Who has dominated on day two of the Country Week tournament

Country Week is approaching the finals stage. Check out all the action and all the top performers

Country Week is underway as teams battle to be the best in Provincial or to win Division 2 to get promotion.

Games were held around the state on Monday with 18 teams in action on the first day.

Below is a wrap of the opening two days.

DAY TWO REVIEW

Division 1

Ferntree Gully remains unbeaten in Pool A but survived a scare from Warrnambool in their second match of Country Week,

Bowling first at Camberwell Sports Ground, Ferntree Gully got on top early, decimating Warrnambool’s top order.

Ferntree Gully had Warrnambool 4/23 before taking three wickets for seven runs to have the opposition in trouble at 7/30.

Warrnambool recovered with Jacob Hetherington making 79 not out as the team was bowled out for 143.

Ferntree Gully was cruising to the total before stumbling late, losing 3/17, to go from 5/104 to 8/122 still 21 short of the total.

But Nathan Walsh (61) and Luke McComb (14) guided the team to victory.

Geelong claimed the win over Leongatha in the other game of Pool B after making 8/294 from their 50 overs.

Sam Hall, playing for North Geelong in 2022, made 100 for Geelong in Country Week. Picture: Mark Wilson

Geelong opener Sam Hall made 101 and was joined by Philip Visser who made 82.

In reply, Leongatha were 5/98 after 22.1 overs when play was stopped due to rain.

Geelong and Ferntree Gully have now qualified for the semi’s with the teams to face each other on Wednesday to decide top spot.

Sale-Maffra also qualified for the semi’s with a two wicket win over Wangaratta.

After batting first, Wangaratta were bowled out for 185 with Sale-Maffra captain Dylan Bolton and Steven Spoljaric taking three wickets each.

Wangaratta fought back well with the ball, causing a middle order collapse, to have Sale-Maffra 7/122 still needing 64 to win.

An unbeaten 40 to Benjamin Jones guided Sale-Maffra to the win and a semi-final spot.

The other game in Pool A also saw a semi-final spot decided with Bendigo beating Mornington Peninsula.

Bendigo once again hit a large total, batting first, making 310 as Jack Neylon (54), Sam Johnston (51) and Kyle Humphrys (56) all making half centuries.

Despite half centuries to Aiden McKenna (55) and Harley Peacestirling (61) for Mornington Peninsula the team fell short of the target, making 249.

Bendigo’s Adam Burns took 4/60 including the key wicket of Peacestirling.

Bendigo and Sale-Maffra will play each other on Wednesday to decide the winner of Pool A.

Division 2

Just two sides remain unbeaten in Division 2 after the second day with Casey-Cardinia and Bairnsdale sitting on top.

Casey-Cardinia defeated Ballarat on Duckworth Lewis after rain stopped play in Port Melbourne.

Ballarat were 5/147 in the 32nd over chasing Casey-Cardinia’s 7/283 when play was stopped.

Casey-Cardinia opener Luke McMaster made 89 with Travis Wheller making 58.

Ballarat lost early wickets in reply and were 3/55 at one stage before Mick Nolan (25) and Nick Strangio (22) tried to recover the innings before play was stopped.

The loss puts Ballarat in fourth and Casey-Cardinia in first.

Bairnsdale also remained unbeaten with a 54-run win over Hamilton.

An unbeaten 82 from Brayden McCarrey guided Bairnsdale to 263 from their 50 overs after being forced to bat first.

Hamilton made 203 from their 50 overs as disciplined bowling from Bairnsdale prevented them from scoring quicker.

Hamilton’s Oscar Newell made 54 not out with Sam Wilson making 42 at the top.

In other games, Latrobe Valley defeated South West by 21 runs with Maryborough beating Sunraysia on Duckworth Lewis.

Maryborough made 8/254 from 40 overs before Sunraysia scored 9/158 from 24 overs in reply.

Sergio Rosier was the man of the match, making 88 for Maryborough with the bat before taking 3/20 with the ball to help the team to the win.

Latrobe Valley restricted South West to 189 after making 210 batting first.

James Pryde took 3/21 for Latrobe Valley in the win.

DAY ONE REVIEW

Division 1

Sale-Maffra has made a statement on the opening day of the Provincial Country Week tournament, smashing last year’s grand finalists Mornington Peninsula by 10 wickets.

Mornington Peninsula’s decision to bat first backfired with the team struggling to post a competitive total, being bowled out for 164 in the 48th over.

No batsmen for MPCA was able to get a start and at one stage the team was 9/115 before a last wicket stand made the total more respectable.

In reply, Sale-Maffra got the runs in under 30 overs with openers Cormac Hassett (68) and Kevin Renecke (73) guiding the team home.

In the other match of Pool B, a century to James Barri guided Bendigo to a 97-run win over Wangaratta.

James Barri is congratulated by his teammates after he made a century. Picture: Bendigo District Cricket Association.

Barri, who made 107 from 100 balls, guided the team to 9/286 from their 50 overs.

The opposition in reply never threatened the target and were bowled out for 186 with Cooper Thomason top scoring with 47.

Bendigo vice-captain Luke Smith took four wickets.

In the other pool the reigning champions Ferntree Gully survived a challenge from Leongatha to open their campaign with a win.

Ferntree Gully, batting first, looked on track to make a competitive total with Trent Phillips (40) helping the team to 4/124 at one stage.

But a clump of wickets, including losing 3/1 at one point, put the team at 8/149.

An unbeaten 42 from Anthony Brolic helped the team to 198.

It turned out to be enough with a disciplined bowling effort restricting Leongatha to 156.

Simon Kirton, Joel Brann and Ethan Lamers took all 10 wickets with Kirton claiming four and Brann and Lamers getting three each.

The other pool match saw an explosive Geelong side provide a tough initiation to last year’s Division 2 champions Warrnambool in the top tier.

Warrnambool made what looked to be a competitive total of 250 with Shannon Beks making 63.

Geelong Cricket Association celebrate the wicket of Warrnambool batsman Chris Bant off the bowling of Josh Lacey. Picture: Mark Wilson

But Geelong made light work of the total, clubbing 130 runs off the first 13 overs as opener Sam Hall (43) and Highton gun Gregory Willows (78) smashed the ball to all parts of Geelong Cricket Ground.

Joshua Lacey and skipper Sean O’Neill then steadied the ship after a couple of wickets fell as Geelong reached the target in just 30 overs, with Lacey finishing with 42 not out.

It came after Geelong got off to a rocky start themselves with the ball, conceding 80 runs from the first 10 overs against Warrnambool before an even bowling performance from there turned the tide.

“Getting scores like that in that time frame will give us a headstart against other sides but these competitions change quickly, as we’ve learnt in the last few years,” Geelong coach Brad Hauenstein said.

“The quicks came back and bowled a hell of a lot than they did earlier, probably a tad short and weren’t bowling the right lines. To pull them back to 250 after being 1-80 from 10 is a pretty good effort down here at Geelong.

“We were 1-100 after 10, we were flying. Sam Hall got them away and then Greg Willows just controlled the game and hit the ball hard.”

Division 2

There were centuries galore in Division 2, as five players reached triple figures to help their sides to a win on the opening day.

Leading the way was Casey-Cardinia’s Lucas Ligt who smashed 142 from 163 deliveries as opener to help the team to a 186-run win over Kingston Hawks under-18 team.

Ligt helped the team make 314 with fellow opener Luke McMaster making 58.

Kingston Hawks struggled in reply to make the total but did bat their 50 overs making 8/184.

Luke Stow made 51 for the under-18 side.

A century to Cobden player Johno Benallack stole the show as South West posted a 151-run win over Bellarine.

South West batsman Johno Benallack made 100 against Bellarine. Picture: Mark Wilson

He made 108 as South West made 340 from their 50 overs.

Bellarine Peninsula was no match for South West in reply, with a productive final-wicket partnership between Cameron Watson (33) and captain Jordan Graham (20) easing the pain as they were bowled out for 199.

Matthew Bignell (4-40) and James O’Neil (4-38) both chimed in with four wickets for South West, while Edward Morrison was the pick of the bowlers with 3-42 for Bellarine Peninsula.

In other results, Hamilton and Bairnsdale had comfortable nine and six wicket wins over Sunraysia and Latrobe Valley respectively.

Hamilton’s Sam Wilson made 107 as the team chased down Sunraysia’s 218 in the 44th over.

A five-wicket haul to Hamilton’s Carey Megaw helped the side restrict Sunraysia despite most of the top order from the opposition getting starts.

Bairnsdale made light work of their run chase against Latrobe Valley with Rohan Blandford (113) and Frank Mostert (53*) putting on a valuable stand to help the team chase down Latrobe Valley’s total of 202.

Latrobe Valley’s Liam Maynard made 82 for the team when they bat first but it was not enough to secure the win.

In the final game, Ballarat defeated Maryborough by 110 runs.

Ballarat made 320 batting first with Thomas Le Lievre making 116 for the hosts at Eastern Oval.

Maryborough could only make 210 in reply with captain Mitchell McClure making 51 to top score for the opposition.

The tournament continues on Tuesday.

Top Performers

Day 3

Daniel Cormack, Fentree Gully — 54 with the bat

Anthony Brolic, Fentree Gully — 81 with the bat

Daniel Blatherwick, Geelong — 4-39 with the ball

Sam Coutts, Geelong — 3-40 with the ball

Joshua Priestley, Fentree Gully — 3-36 with the ball

Trent Atkinson, Fentree Gully — 3-28 with the ball

Lachie Oddie, Maryborough — 81 with the bat

Luke Stow, Kingston Hawthorn — 4-33 with the ball

Charlie Aldridge, Kingston Hawathorn - 103* with the bat

Luke Endley, Bairnsdale — 3-41 with the ball

Brodie Anderson, Bairnsdale — 3-17 with the ball

Frankston Mostert, Bairnsdale — 76* with the bat

Ricky Killey, Hamilton — 70 with the bat

Lachie Warburton, Hamilton — 56* with the bat

James O’Neil, South West — 3-52 with the ball

Day 2

Jacob Hetherington, Warrnambool – 79 not out with the bat

Jake Toohey, Ferntree Gully – 5/43 with the ball.

Nathan Walsh, Ferntree Gully – 61 not out with the bat

Rommel Shahzad, Warrnambool – 3/39 with the ball

Sam Hall, Geelong – 101 with the bat

Philip Visser, Geelong – 82 with the bat

Joel Brann, Leongatha – 3/40 with the ball

Dylan Bolton, Sale-Maffra – 3/35 with the ball

Steven Spoljaric, Sale-Maffra – 3/28 with the ball

Jack Neylon, Bendigo – 54 with the bat

Sam Johnston, Bendigo – 51 with the bat

Kyle Humphrys, Bendigo – 56 with the bat

Thomas Finn, Mornington Peninsula – 3/41 with the ball

Luke McMaster, Casey-Cardinia – 89 with the bat

Travis Wheller, Casey-Cardinia – 58 with the bat

William Hodgins, Ballarat – 3/18 with the ball

Jason Williams, Casey-Cardinia – 3/45 with the ball

Sergio Rosier, Maryborough – 88 with the bat and 3/20 with the ball

Brayden McCarrey, Bairnsdale – 82 not out with the bat

Jacob Edwards, Hamilton – 3/52 with the ball

Oscar Newell, Hamilton – 54 not out with the bat

James Pryde, Latrobe Valley – 3/21 with the ball

James O’Neil, South West – 3/38 with the ball

Louis Darcy, South West – 3/61 with the ball

Paul Vogels, South West – 3/45 with the ball

Day 1

Simon Kirton, Leongatha – 4/49 with the ball

Joel Brann, Leongatha – 3/27 with the ball

Ethan Lamers, Leongatha – 3/23 with the ball

Daniel Mock, Leongatha – 50 with the bat

Tim Chivers, Ferntree Gully – 3/26 with the ball

Rory Bailey, Ferntree Gully – 3/32 with the ball

Shannon Beks, Warrnambool – 63 with the bat

Bohdi Walker, Sale-Maffra – 3/23 with the ball

Dylan Bolton, Sale-Maffra – 3/17 with the ball

Cormac Hassett, Sale-Maffra – 68 not out with the bat

Kevin Renecke, Sale-Maffra – 73 not out with the bat

James Barri, Bendigo – 107 not out with the bat

Gurjot Gosal, Wangaratta – 3/6 with the ball

Liam Smith, Bendigo – 3/40 with the ball

Kyle Humphrys, Bendigo – 3/53 with the ball

Johno Benallack, South West – 107 with the bat

Edward Morrison, Bellarine – 3/42 with the ball

James O’Neil, South West – 4/38 with the ball

Matthew Bignell, South West – 4/40 with the ball

Lucas Light. Casey Cardinia – 142 not out with the bat

Luke McMaster, Casey Cardinia – 58 with the bat

Luke Stow, Kingston Hawks – 51 not out with the bat

Liam Maynard, Latrobe Valley – 82 with the bat

Frank Mostert, Bairnsdale – 3/31 with the ball and 53 with the bat

Stephen Bertino, Bairnsdale – 3/26 with the ball

Rohan Blandford, Bairnsdale – 113 with the bat

Carey Megaw, Hamilton – 5/31 with the ball

Stephen O’Brien, Hamilton – 3/48 with the ball

Samuel Wilson, Hamilton – 107 not out with the bat

Thomas Le Lievre, Ballarat – 116 with the bat

Mitchell McClure, Maryborough – 51 with the bat

Jayden Hayes, Ballarat – 3/39 with the ball

Matt Ward, Ballarat – 63 with the bat

Heath Pyke, Ballarat – 75 with the bat

Sergio Rosier, Maryborough – 3/65 with the ball