Joshua Lacey inspires East Belmont’s 63-run win over Grovedale with all-round display

An exquisite performance from an East Belmont all-rounder was pivotal to its 63-run defeat of Grovedale in GCA1 first grade cricket.

East Belmont 5-198 def Grovedale 135

An exquisite all-round effort from Joshua Lacey was central to East Belmont toppling Grovedale, with the Derbyshire-raised young gun striking a team-high 59 before racing through the Tigers batting with the extraordinary return of 5-8 from almost nine overs of spin.

“It was just about keeping it boring, dotting them up and waiting for a mistake to happen,” the 22-year-old said of his bowling as the Lions rolled the Tigers by 63 runs in the battle of the big cats.

“James McMahon (3-29) and I had been working on some plans at training, and even though I hadn’t been getting any wickets, we just spoke about sticking to our plans.

Josh Lacey made 59 against Grovedale. Picture: Wes Cusworth.

“You’ll always get chances when a side is chasing, and we were fortunate that the wicket did have some inconvenient bounce and did start to spin a bit.”

Invited to bat first, the Lions clawed their way to 5-198 as Lacey, Hayden McMahon (48 not out) and Shane McNamara (33) topped the scoring in the face of tight lines from Tigers Bailey Sykes (2-32), Sam Coutts (1-36) and Brayden Engelen-Baker (0-32).

“We always wanted to push for more as it was a good pitch,” Lacey said.

“It wasn’t an ideal total, but I guess it worked out in the end.

“It was great to have that opportunity to have that partnership (59 for the fourth wicket) with Hayden McMahon and to show what we could do.”

Where Grovedale were justifiably optimistic at the innings break, its joy was ultimately short-lived as the innings stuttered with wickets tumbling at regular intervals.

Several of the Tigers got starts but it was left to Josh Windus to head the scoring with a 61-ball 38 at number seven, as Lacey and McMahon created havoc with the slow ball.

“Yeah, it’s good to go out there and have a good kind of day, but, and I know it’s a bit of a cliche, the win’s obviously better and more important,” Lacey said.

“It was a big win, especially against Grovedale.

“We consider them a really good side and we always want to perform well against them.”

Newtown and Chilwell 6-249 def South Barwon 212

Newtown and Chilwell’s highly vaunted batting finally clicked into gear, enabling the Two Blues to claim their first scalp of the season with a 37-run defeat of South Barwon.

Pat McKenna (44), Chay Deary (35), Tom Meredith (34) and Tyson Windus (32) all contributed with the willow, but it was an electrifying 53-ball 83 from Englishman Ronnie McKenna that ultimately propelled the Two Blues to an unassailable 6-249.

“It’s massive relief for us as a leadership group and a club, we’ve never been in doubt about the talent we have here,” coach Tom Meredith said about the win post-game.

“We’ve just been really slow to start for a number of reasons and have put in four poor displays up until now.

Willem Breuer appeals for the wicket of Tyson Windus. Picture: Wes Cusworth

“Ronnie is a genuinely quality batsman of County standard and even though he hasn’t really shown that the first few games, there’s a lot more to come from him.”

The Combine’s tally did look under threat for as long as Swans skipper Nick Butters was finding the boundary, striking six sixes and five fours in his punishing 68-ball 85.

“He’s obviously a top draw batsman who could’ve taken the game away from us,” Meredith said.

“But as soon as we got him out, we knew that we were a real chance.”

While Dylan Hodge (1-18) captured the prized wicket of Butters, it was seamers Chay Deary (4-23) and Pat McKenna (2-19) who took the pace off the ball, swinging the game the way of the KFC Oval hosts.

“Every element from batting to bowling to fielding was top notch today, particularly the batting,” Meredith said.

“We spoke during the week about having a clear plan in your head when you go into bat and I think everyone actually got in and contributed and played the role that we asked them to play.

“It was a great feeling in the rooms after the game, definitely a bit of relief for the lads.”

St Joseph’s 3-132 def Highton 129

St Joseph’s sits atop the GCA1 ladder after five rounds thanks to an emphatic seven-wicket defeat of Highton at Zampatti Oval.

The inspired selection of finger spinner Jack O’Donoghue (3-14) was pivotal to the Joeys fortunes, as the wily tweaker combined with paceman Austin Humphrey (3-28) and seamer Brandon Purcell (2-28) to race through the Heat batting.

Austin Humphrey bowling for St Joseph's. Picture: Wes Cusworth.

Lewis Campbell was the visitors best with a tidy, game-high 88-ball 55, while Highton’s situation would have been even more dire were it not for the rearguard action of Errol Burns (27) and Fionn Neeson (21 not out), as the pair added 50 for the ninth wicket.

St Joseph’s was largely untroubled in running down the under-par tally; Ryan Simmonds (32) heading the scoring with Jackson Bye and Mitch McMullan each contributing an unbeaten 31.

North Geelong 5-242 def Lara 170

A brilliant unbeaten 114 from opener Ned Cooper was the catalyst to North Geelong’s 72-run defeat of Lara at Osborne Park. Cooper struck a six and half-a-dozen boundaries in his polished 131-ball innings; his 105-run third-wicket union with heavy-hitting South African Philip Visser (55) pivotal to the Magpies reaching 5-242 at the end of their allotted 50 overs. Celebrating game 350 for the Cats, Danny Hughes was the best of the bowlers with 1-24 from his 10 overs.

Ned Cooper brings up his century against Lara. Picture: Mark Brunger.

In response, Lara captain Daniel Weigl (50) combined with Rob Sodomaco (38) for a 41-run second wicket partnership, although once that union was broken it was a steady procession of wickets that ultimately brought about the Cats’ downfall.

Towering paceman Tom Webster claimed his second consecutive three-wicket haul with 3-37, while Magpies skipper Tom Mathieson put the game beyond doubt by sweeping the Cats’ tail with 4-29.

Originally published as Joshua Lacey inspires East Belmont’s 63-run win over Grovedale with all-round display