All four of Lara Cricket Club’s GCA2 teams finish 2024/25 season minor premiers

A Rob Sodomaco ton has steered Lara’s first XI to an incredible undefeated season. But the Cats’ dominance hasn’t just stopped at its top-flight team, the club cementing a historic feat.

Lara’s Rob Sodomaco scored his third first XI ton on Saturday. Picture: Wes Cusworth.

Lara’s Robert Sodomaco says the Cats must make the most of a golden opportunity to win premierships, following the club’s unparalleled home-and-away dominance across all four GCA2 grades.

A Sodomaco ton against Torquay on Saturday saw Lara’s first XI go undefeated this summer, believed to be the first unblemished top-tier campaign since Leopold’s 1994-95 season.

The Cats’ second XI also finished the season unbeaten with an 181-run win over the Tigers, while the club’s third and fourth XI also topped their respective ladders.

It saw Lara claim the club championship with 110 of a possible 126 points, and mark arguably the greatest club-wide season in many years.

Sodomaco said the Cats were savouring the success they were having this summer.

“Obviously we were up against it for a few seasons in div 1 (GCA1) … as much as it was still a really good environment to play cricket at, it’s obviously less enjoyable when you’re losing,” Sodomaco said.

“The positives coming into this year, even when we came down, everyone was just really keen to play, we managed to increase our depth and we’ve just got a really good group of players and people at the club now.”

The challenge now for Lara is to turn its home-and-away dominance into finals success, ahead of a likely promotion back into the top-flight.

“That's going to be a bigger challenge (promotion), so while we’ve got this opportunity, we’ve got four grades who finished top of the ladder, we’ve got to try and make the most of that and really enjoy it while we can,” Sodomaco said.

The 29-year-old Sodomaco celebrated his third first XI century – and fourth senior career ton – with a classy 167-ball 101, interspersed with 11 boundaries, against the Tigers.

Chasing 183, the Cats were forced to bide their time early on, the opening 24 overs accounting for just 33 runs.

“They (Torquay) were bowling really well all day to be honest, so they didn’t give us too many balls to score off,” Sodomaco said.

“At the start it was just a matter hanging in there and trusting if we batted the day out the runs would take care of themselves.”

Down just two wickets by tea, it was Andrew Hughes (a patient 45 from 125) and Sodomaco’s match-defining 110-run third wicket stand which got the Cats within 40 runs of victory before Hughes’ dismissal, and forced the Tigers to take more risks in search of wickets.

“Runs and scoring opportunities came after that,” Sodomaco said.

Sodomaco would later team with Brenden Miller (39) to surpass the Tigers’ lead, the Cats eventually going on to make 6-243 before declaring late.

The Cats’ first XI now face Murgheboluc in a two-day qualifying final starting Saturday, after the Frogs’ 36-run win over Geelong City was enough to pip Bell Park for second-place.

Jason and Daniel Grozdanovski combined for six wickets to dismiss the Sharks for 182.

The Dragons meanwhile, face Torquay in an elimination final, buoyed by a two-wicket win over fifth-placed Bell Post Hill in which Nikhil Deep Pottabathini starred with an impressive 82-ball 62.

Meanwhile, Leopold, though out of finals contention, finished its season on a bright note, needing just a few hours to wrap up its match against Geelong West.

The Lions’ attack ripped through the Rams’ line-up for just 103, 67 runs short of Lions’ 170 day one total.

Jake Le Maistre starred with 5-23 from eight overs, while Robbie O’Donnell picked up 3-1 from just 15 deliveries.

Originally published as All four of Lara Cricket Club’s GCA2 teams finish 2024/25 season minor premiers