Sailing away
LONG-TIME Port Fairy players Steve Dwyer and Darren Lloyd have called time on their careers with the Warrnambool and District Cricket Association top-grade side.
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The pair finished their time with the Pirates on Saturday in a dramatic 13-run victory over Wesley-CBC at Avery's Paddock.
Lloyd bowled an astonishing 31 overs to finish with 4-73 in his final innings with ball in hand.
Dwyer, who started his career with Royal Park/Brunswick in 1992, also chipped in with two wickets of his own for 45 runs.
He bowled his heart out on Satuday to bowl for 31 overs," Dwyer said of Lloyd.
"He got his four-for and got it at a really good time when he put on his best for the last game.
"He had an absolute great year and he was well supported. He is a great bloke and the club will miss him."
The 45-year-old, who played in division two premierships in 2004-5 and 2010-11, said the pair had come to their decision two weeks ago.
"It's been a good ride," Dwyer said of his cricket career. "I think both of us came to the decision two weeks ago that it was going to be it.
"For me I played cricket for the love of it and it was just getting harder and I had to face reality."
The pace bowler also thanked the support of his family - children Bailey, 11, Aidan, 9, and Olive, 18-months - and especially his wife Stacey.
For me I played cricket for the love of it and it was just getting harder and I had to face reality.
- Steve Dwyer
"She has been fantastic and hasn't once complained about it," she said. "She has supported her husband 100 per cent. I don't think she was a fan of the game at the start but she she is now."
Dwyer played 221 games for the Pirates taking 420 wickets. With the bat he accumulated 1705 runs.
Lloyd played 52 games for Port Fairy and finished with a total of 64 wickets and 302 runs.
Triple treat
The Jones family had a day to cherish in Mailors Flat's GCA Sunday one-day match against Wangoom.
Three generations of the family pulled on the whites and played for the first time with Cristian playing with his son Damian, 35, and grandson Angus, 10.
Damian said it was a very emotional day for him as he relished the opportunity to be playing with his son and father.
"It was unbelievable," he said. "It was nice to have a bat with Gus and it's surpassed anything I have done before and I’ve won premierships and cricketer of the year awards but nothing compares to it.
"I got to bat with son and I had my dad at square leg (umpire). Which was fantastic.
"It was already an emotional day with Sam (Chilton) passing away last Friday and it heightened the emotions, knowing that it's not something that comes around often with your son and to have dad there was icing on the cake."
Angus and Damian would combine for five runs at the crease before the partnership came to an end.
Damian thanked the Wangoom players for helping make Angus' senior cricket debut a smooth ride.
"They were fantastic with Gus and him being young they took it easy on him," he said. "You couldn't pick a better bunch of blokes to play against."
WDCA Team of the Week
Ben Hadden East Warrnambool 50; Geoff Williams Nestles 49; Sam McCosh Wesley-CBC 49; Josh Stapleton Merrivale 47; Bevan Stokie Wesley-CBC 44; Jack Sunderland West Warrnambool 5-27; Chris Cheslin Dennington 5-49; Ben Boyd Allansford 4-22 & 24; Nathan Murphy Brierly-Chirst Church 4-27; Darren Lloyd Port Fairy 4-73; Mark Murphy Brierly-Christ Church 3-20;
GCA Team of the Week
Xavier McCartney Yambuk 97; Brendan Chatfield Killarney 63; Anthony Martin Killarney 54; Jethro Searle Yambuk 51; Christo Rook Yambuk 46; Nick Kermond Wangoom 6-70; Alex Johnstone Purnim 4-65; Ben Howarth Purnim 3-28; James North Hawkesdale 3-39; Murray Habel Hawkesdale 2-4; David West Hawkesdale 2-17;
SWC Team of the Week
Tyler Schafer Mortlake 147*; Shane Slater Mortlake 95; Tim Place Pomborneit 73; Jeff Rosolin Heytesbury 71; Gus Bourke Noorat 69*; Simon Harkness Heytesbury 55; Bayley Thompson Heytesbury 5-23; Toby Harris Noorat 4-19; Brad Hillman Pomborneit 4-33; Todd Robertson Mortlake 4-44; Lahiru Fernando Pomborneit 4-48;
English strike force
The WDCA's English bowlers showed on the weekend they can be a key bowling asset.
Three different imports in three different teams all managed to score five-wicket hauls in the final day of round 16 on Saturday.
Dennington's Chris Cheslin (5-49) bowled the Dogs into third spot against Nestles.
While in the same game Merrivale's Sam Clarkson finished his bowling at 5-36 before West Warrnambool's Jack Sunderland (5-27) tore through the Tigers batters to seal the victory.
Finals haul
Bookaar's Wilba Cheeseman will never forget his performance against Mortlake in the 2018-19 South West Cricket under 16 semi-final.
Cheeseman tore through the Cats batting line-up taking 4-8 off 3.1 overs - his best figures of the season.
The teenager then backed it up with the bat to finish unbeaten on 11 alongside opener Bailey McDonald (44) to help the Pelicans seal victory.
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Sean Hardeman
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
