VMCU carnival finishes with tense grand finals

South East, Inner South East, Eastern, Ringwood District, Western Region and North West Metropolitan lift shields.

The South East team bunches for a pic after winning the Under 16 Jim Beitzel Shield.

Henry Pearson gained a few bright notices last week when he made 39 in his second match for Brighton in the Victorian Sub-District competition.

He won a few more on Sunday with his matchwinning performance for the South East Cricket Association against Inner South East in the grand final of the VMCU Under 16 Jim Beitzel Shield at Walter Galt Reserve in Mordialloc.

Pearson was dropped on 15, a simple chance to mid-on.

The left-hander went on to an unbeaten 83, off 90 balls, as the South East overhauled a testing 6-164.

There were 11 fours for Pearson, the son of former English County cricketer Richard Pearson.

And there was a man-of-the-match award for him, presented by umpires Bill Sheehan and Tony Edwards.

The victory meant the South East, coached by Nick Ritchie and Stan Moraitis, went through the carnival undefeated.

Henry Pearson.

Moraitis said the absence of the Cricket Victoria Youth Premier League this season had strengthened the Jim Beitzel Shield and there were some outstanding players.

From the SECA team, Pearson, captain and fast bowler Lewis Sellenger and opening batsman Zac Grech will compete in the Cricket Victoria western summer series this week in Hamilton and Dunkeld.

For the Inner South East, captain Caleb Candappa was outstanding with his leg-spin, taking 2-21 off his nine overs.

Opener Andrew Callaghan (33), wicketkeeper Hugo Hughes (26) and Tom Reid (29) contributed runs, and Lachie Francis (30no) and Orlando Pender (20no) put on 44 for the seventh wicket.

The South East also took the Jim Beitzel Shield last season.

“Fantastic effort from our boys to go through the tournament unbeaten,’’ Moraitis said.

“We thought we were in for a hard game … it was a tight contest against ISEC in the home-and-away games … and it went down to the wire.

“Great game of cricket.’’

While the Inner South East was edged out in the Jim Beitzel Shield, it won the Under 18 Phil Arnold Shield grand final, running down Western Region’s 111 on Sunday at Kings Park in St Albans. ISEC made 7-112, led by Odil Perera’s 49 and opener Tevin Kuruwita’s patient 35.

Henry Nicholls, Ruan Jayaratne, Tom Sutherland and Saksham Kapoor all took two wickets.

The Inner South East Under 18 team.

The Under 16 Keith Mackay Shield grand final was a cracker, with Ringwood District winning in the final over against South East.

Tenth-wicket pair Regan Wilkins (15no) and Cohen Croft (11no) lifted the Ringwood team to victory with two balls to spare.

It was 9-178 in reply to 174.

South East’s Luke Collis played the innings of the match, 73 off 102 balls, and Wilkins (3-25), Luke Barr (3-26) and Xavier McGrath (3-25) were the cream of the bowlers.

Ringwood District also won the Under 14 Russell Allen Shield, with opener Archie Flynn player of the match for his innings of 60 retired off 69 balls.

It led his team to 7-201 against Western Region, which was all out for 174.

Archie is the son of Ringwood Cricket Club head coach and Victorian Premier Cricket stalwart Sean Flynn.

The Ringwood District Shield-winning Under 14 team.

North West Metropolitan won the Under 14 Des Nolan Cup, making 7-98 in reply to 97. Ben Hollow anchored the chase with 41 not out off 93 deliveries.

The Eastern Cricket Association took out the Under 12 Keith Mitchell Shield, defeating South East.

Ringwood District’s Archie Flynn.

Ashton Seller (4-14 off six overs), Charlie Hester (33no) and Jack Massey (44no) played starring roles as Eastern restricted its opponent to 9-104 and replied with 3-107.

In the Under 12 Josh Browne Plate, Western Region (3-196) was too good for Inner South East (112).

Yuvraj Sharma capped an outstanding series with a hand of 81 retired off 60 balls, with 10 fours and 4 sixes.

It followed his earlier scores of 45, 44no, 36 retired, 34, 45 retired, 59no and 70no; he finished with 414 runs at an average of 207.