By Steve Brown
MONBULK have created history after winning the Knox Tavern Cup on the weekend after gaining just its first Ferntree Gully and District Cricket Association season in the division.
Rowville, after electing to bat first, received a solid start with openers Phil Gillespie and Matt Blackman taking the score to 84 before Gillespie was caught behind after a rush of blood off the bowling of former Silvan medium pacer Stuart Reynolds.
After tasting success, the Monbulk bowlers gave little away and slowed the run rate, which in turn produced the loss of Blackman for 35 with the total on 88.
Darren Hill then took the prize wicket of Tate Burgmann, squaring him up, caught in the gully with the ball of the day.
Semi-final century-maker Rick Ramsdale lofted Reynolds towards the long on boundary only to be brilliantly caught by the diving Jason Fraser in what could only be described as a match turning moment.
Rowville slumped to 4/118 until Craig Mitchell dug his heels in, intent on batting the full 80 overs.
Mitchell added valuable runs at the end with Anderson and Neven before holing out for 48 and the home side reached a competitive 9/236 at stumps when earlier, a score of 300 looked on the cards.
Reynolds was a workhorse in hot conditions finishing with 4/67 from 25 overs.
In reply, Monbulk lost Mick Coen early, caught behind off the bowling of Michael Anderson, which brought Jason Fraser and Paul Utting together for a partnership of 54 when Utting was dismissed.
Fraser then combined with Shane Colee for another solid partnership when Fraser was adjudged LBW for 36.
Left-hander, Chris Coen posted 36 and the game was slipping away from Rowville until leg spinner Neven dismissed Coen and Colee in one over.
Enter former Rowville player Darren Hill with Jay Colee who provided support and it was left to Hill to smash 64 and lead the Hawks to their third premiership and in doing so winning the Stephen Lee Medal for the second occasion.
Monbulk defeated a gallant Rowville by 3 wickets with 14 balls to spare in what was a great final.
Lysterfield easily won the Decoite Shield and remained undefeated thanks to Jarrod Moody (78) and contributions from Kyle Snyman and Darren “Spanner” Spence helping their team to a healthy 286 in the final against South Belgrave.
Leg spinner Daniel Maxwell (4/80) and seamer Robbie Cockerell (3/76) were the backbone of the South attack.
South Belgrave reached 3/50 before collapsing to all out 128 with only Darren Ray reaching the 30s.
Scott Buckingham with four wickets and Shane Burdon taking 3/5 ended South’s hopes of promotion to Division 1.
Moody was awarded the Ken Utting Medal for best afield.
Quentin Wells continues to dominate for Lysterfield in the division 3 final at Pickett Reserve against Footballers.
Wells coming off an unbeaten 154 in the semi-final scored a brilliant 184 to take the game away from the opposition who had little chance of chasing 431 for the flag.
SCORES
Knox Tavern Cup: Monbulk 7/239 (Hill 63, Fraser 36, C. Coen 36) d Rowville 9/236 (C. Mitchell 48, P. Gillespie 43, M. Blackman 35, S. Reynolds 4/67).
Stephen Lee Medal – D. Hill (Monbulk).
Decoite Shield: Lysterfield 9/286 (J. Moody 79, K. Snyman 41, D. Spence 39, D. Maxwell 4/80, R. Cockerell 3/76) d South Belgrave 128 (D. Ray 35, S. Buckingham 4/23, Burdon 3/5).
Ken Utting Medal – J. Moody (Lysterfield).
Division 3: Lysterfield 7/434 (Q. Wells 184, N. Whitty 117*, Binks 39) d FTG Footballers 216 (P. Castledine 56, T. Pruysers 50, T. Gale 53, B. Paull 4/76).
Division 4: Eildon Park 8/304 (Moen 72*, Smith 48, Perera 42, Chandler 3/57) d St. John’s/Tecoma 263 (Chandler 68, Mitchell 40, Clemments 69, S. Ward 5/80).
Division 5: Knoxfield 7/190 (Stewart 50) d Johnson Park 189 (A. Wright 60, Richards 4/38, M. Stewart 4/39).
Division 6: Eildon Park 193 (C. Morris 42, A. Parker 53, G. Lee 4/52, S. Davis 3/55) d The Basin 136 (S. Downs 4/27, C. Martin 3/23).
Division 7: Knoxfield 2/210 (S. MacDonald 73*, D. Milligan 65, D. Field 55*) d Mountain Gate 209 (G. Robinson 55, M. Burridge 46, P. Adams 42, D. Evans 5/24).
B1 One Day: Knox Churches 9/186 (D. Andersen 52, C. Hedges 5/27) d Wandin East 121 (C. Hedges 48, J. Eshuis 3/17).
B2 One Day: Johnson Park 6/205 (J. Simmonds 50* S. Simmonds 48, Rawlings 35, Wallace 31*, Hahn 3/45) d Eildon Park 9/188 (Potealej 51*, Casey 36, Veridian 3/27, Wallace 4/39).
B3 One Day : FTG Footballers 7/79 (Adams 3/19) d Knox Gardens 74 (Stoddard 4/ 23).
Under 17/1 Healthguard Cup: Knoxfield 8/234 (Hillyer 60, Z. Wilson 45, T. Boxell 47, T. Smith 34) d Mulgrave 157 (Cull 29, Z. Wilson 3/43, L. Scanlan 3/37).
Under 17/2: Knoxfield 8/205 (M. Thompson 57, Nixon 4/38, Petrovski 30) d Upper Gully 6/201 (Ferguson-Smith 75, Zaloumis 39*).
Under 15/1: Mulgrave 6/163 (L. Mason 53*, H. Crozier 50*, J. Williams 28*, R. Hill 2/20, M. Remington 2/35) d Eildon Park 157 (R. Hill 39*, J. Ng 29, D. Tasker 29, D. Somaratne 2/19, A. Antonopoulous 2/14).
Under 15/2A: Johnson Park 8/184 (S. Roy 27, D. Stanciv 23, B. Morello 3/12, D. Scott 2/20) d Knox Gardens 181 (R. Howes 53, J. Lim 35, B. Morello 24, S. Roy 3/24, A. Rambaldo 2/13, B. Hards 2/22).
Under 15/2B: Upper Gully 6/143 (D. Osbourne 52*, B. Schimleck 35, H. Amin 2/10) d Mulgrave 142 (R. D’Souza 30, D. Whitfield 24, J. Roleff 2/20, D. Osbourne 2/20, L. Gifford 2/28).
Under 13/1: Eildon Park 6/268 (J. Dietzel 45*, S. Harper 41*, M. Howard 40*, A. Bond 41*) d Knox Gardens 107 (S. McInnerny 47*, A. Bond 2/15, T. Sugumar 2/10, A. Pendelbury 2/10).
Under 13/2A: Johnson Park 9/271 (J. Ley 53*, M. Ley 48* J. Gstrein 41, H. DeGraff 3/26) d Mountain Gate 154 (J. Lindnen 42*, B. Murphy 21, A. Jose 5/12).
Under 13/2B: Upper Gully 105 (D. Claughton 21, J. Humphries 3/12) d Eildon Park 90 (J. Patterson 3/12).
