Tara Murray
The back end of the season has proved to be the key for Gellibrand for both its women’s and men’s first XI cricket sides.
After slower starts to their seasons, both sides can home like a steam train to seal finals berth.
The women’s side played off for their second straight premiership in the North West Metropolitan Cricket Association on Sunday.
After winning the division 2 premiership last season, the side finished runners-up to Maribyrnong Park St Mary’s in division 1.
Gellibrand president Mark Keating said the side did a really good job.
“We went up to division 1 and a few weeks ago it didn’t look like we were going to make finals,” he said.
“We won three in a row to get into finals and finish second and then make the grand final.
“We faced the team on top all year. We gave them a run for their money, but we couldn’t get over the line.”
Gellibrand made 4-127 from its overs with Tenielle Potter and Daniella Viney top scoring with 29 each.
Maribyrnong Park made the runs in the 17th over, finishing 1-129.
Viney had the wicket for Gellibrand.
Keating said the club had dropped back to only one side this season after two the previous season.
He said they were focused on building up to have two teams again.
While the women’s season is over, the men’s finals are only just beginning. The club’s first three sides are all in the finals.
Keating said the first XI had a really mixed season.
“We won three in a row and then we lost five in a row,” he said. “At Christmas time it looked difficult to make finals.
“We won three of our four two-day games and it played us into third position. We finished really strong and got some good momentum.”
Keating said the strong two-day format wasn’t planned it was the way that it had played out. He said with no two-day games the last couple of seasons with COVID-19, everyone had trained for the shorter format.
The side enter the Victorian Turf Cricket Association division 4 finals on the back of an outright win against Moonee Ponds.
Moonee Ponds were bowled out for 63, before Gellibrand made 4-146.
Moonee Ponds in its second innings were bowled out for 129 leaving Gellibrand needing 46 runs for the outright.
They finished 2-49 off 9.3 overs to get the full points.
Keating is hoping that they can go one step further than last season when they lost the grand final in a best-of-three format.
Gellibrand faces Maribyrnong Park St Marys in the semi finals.
“We’re quietly confident,” he said. “We’ve finished strongly and we’ll take some momentum in.
“We won the semi final last season so we know that we can produce well in finals.”
