OCEAN GROVE JUNIORS
Under 17: Newtown and Chilwell 6/173 def Ocean Grove 118
Ocean Grove hosted Newtown and Chilwell at Ray Menzies Oval for their Round 11 clash. Fletcher Long lost the toss again, and Ocean Grove fielded first. The bowling was tight and the fielding was generally good as Ocean Grove restricted Newtown and Chilwell to a total of 6/173. Flynn Hardiman was the best of the bowlers, consistently bowling in good areas and finishing with 3/44 from 11 overs. The other wicket takers were Fletcher Long with 2/45 from nine overs, and Bailey Le Maistre with 1/16 from six overs.
In reply, Ocean Grove found the going tough against some tight bowling and excellent catching by Newtown and Chilwell. Joe McDonald top scored with 32 not out, and Max Sutton batted well for his 26, but the team fell well short, and were bowled out for 118 to end their season.
Under 15: Highton 2/221 def Ocean Grove 94
In Round 10, Tali Platt and Noah Cunningham stood tall, for our third-from-bottom Under 15 Ocean Grove boys in the game against third-from-top Highton Wood. After winning the toss and batting under perfect conditions, Ocean Grove were in early trouble at 2/17. Highton Wood’s bowling was unspectacular but it was accurate. Tali continued his style of classic opener, carefully and patiently starting his team’s innings, eroding the bowling attack for those to come and waiting for a partner to join him. His partner this week was Noah Cunningham. Tali (28) and Noah (27) both showed focus and skill to compile a gritty 55-run partnership. Losing them both either side of the morning tea-break ended the reasonable Ocean Grove beginning. It also effectively ended the match whereby Ocean Grove folded for 94, failing, and not for the first time this season, to enjoy the good fun of batting in the sunshine through the allotted overs. The innings had a beginning but no middle or ending of substance. In reply, Highton Wood readily chased the runs down. Even a change of ground from Shell Road to Bellarine Secondary College after a few overs when the sprinklers annoyingly began watering the outfield helped not, as Highton Wood sailed to a nine wicket victory.
