It was a battle between the first- and second-placed teams when Youth Club traveled to Stawell to take on Swifts-Great Western at Central Park in the A Grade competition.
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Swifts-Great Western won the toss and chose to bat first, making a huge total.
Swifts-Great Western declared after 80 overs during which they made 9-396 – their highest total since they scored 420 against Tatyoon in round three in the 2016-17 season.
Opener Sam Cocks continued his fine form with the bat, making 128, while Rick Peters and Matt Heffer also made scores in the 60s.
Swifts-Great Western captain Cocks said he was pleased with how the squad recovered from wickets.
“I was very happy with how the boys performed and we said at the start of the day, if we can give ourselves a bit of time early we can cash in at the end of the day if we got wickets in hand,” he said.
“Towards the end, we reconsolidated each time we lost a wicket and we build a partnership of 40- or 50-odd runs usually, which was really pleasing.”
At Halls Gap, Aradale put on a fighting performance when it bowled Halls Gap out for 148 off 50 overs, with Sam Fulton claiming 5-53.
It left 28 overs to be played for the reminder of the day and it wasn’t the best of starts for Aradale, which lost an early wicket and was 1-7.
A partnership of 122 from Scott Turner and English recruit Joe Gott helped put the pressure back on the Halls Gap bowlers.
Gott was the pick of the batsmen making 79, which included some on drives forward of the wicket and leg glances, which included three sixes.
His innings came to a close in the second-last over of the day where he was bowled out.
Turner also played well. He fought hard in hot and testing conditions and he showed grit and determination.
Aradale captain Turner said the conditions were tough.
“It seemed a lot hotter when we were batting,” he said. “It was very warm and no breeze and there was no cool air for us.”
Aradale ended the day 2-131.
Pomonal was bowled out for 132 against St Andrews, with Clayton Mackley top-scoring with 28 runs.
St Andrews is 2-12 at the end of play.
In B Grade, Rhymney-Moyston defeated Pomonal by nine runs, Chalambar made 5-73 and defeated Halls Gap, which was all out for 69.
At the time of print, no scores were entered for the game between Youth Club and Wickliffe-Lake Bolac and Buangor-Tatyoon and Navarre.
Swifts-Great Western had the bye.
