Sport
7 March, 2025
Bulls through to grand final
POMBORNEIT’S division one side is through to the South West Cricket Association grand final.
The side earned its place in Saturday’s final after a 73-run win over Heytesbury Princetown at Cobden last weekend.
Skipper Matt Bignell won the toss and elected to bat in a move that seemingly backfired when the Bulls were reduced to 5/65 in the 23rd over.
The innings was slowly rebuilt by Lahiru Fernando, who was supported in partnerships of 25 with Tharaka Sendanayake, 32 with Tom Darcy and 32 with Tim Place.
Place was starting to accelerate, hitting two consecutive sixes before being smartly caught and bowled by Storm opening bowler Chris Vogels.
Fernando, who had also lifted his scoring rate in conjunction with Place, also started to clear the boundary, taking Pomborneit to a highly competitive 194 when he was dismissed on the second last ball of the innings for 86 from 89 balls.
Clinton Place got the defence of the Bulls total off to a great start, bowling Storm skipper and competition leading run scorer Matthew Love between bat and pad.
Brad Hillman and Finn Tolland then struck to have the Storm at 3/44 in the 16th over.
The Bulls continued to create wickets, with Tom Darcy taking two including the crucial wicket of opener Hamish Huffadine, before Fernando and Sendanayake combined for five wickets to bowl the Storm out for 121 in the 41st over.
Tomorrow's grand final is a repeat of last year’s decider, with Pomborneit taking on Cobden at Camperdown's SA Wright Oval.
The Pomborneit Gold women's team had its season ended with a shock semi-final loss to Apollo Bay at MCP Oval on Sunday.
The visitors batted first and made 7/75 from their 20 overs, Sam Coxon, Jess Moulden and Rachel Dendle all taking two wickets each.
Gold were disappointing in their reply, all out for just 66, with Jess Moulden 20 and Jada Mahony 22 the only two to make double figures.
This was Pomborneit Gold’s first ever semi-final loss in the five-year history of the CDCA women's competition.
Pomborneit’s division three team also bowed out at the semi-final stage with a seven-run loss to Heytesbury/Princetown Purple on Saturday.
Led by four wickets to Alex Downie and two each to Jack Darcy and Stephen Walters, the Storm were dismissed for 87 in the 31st over.
In reply the Bulls' innings never got going, collapsing to 9/58 before a 10th wicket stand between Jack Smith and Jack Darcy gave hope but ultimately fell short, all out for 80.
Pomborneit’s under 17 boys team contested the grand final in Colac on Tuesday night, with a five-wicket loss the result.
The junior Bulls batted first and found partnerships hard to put together, eventually dismissed for 74.
Openers Ben Whytcross (21 from 19 balls) and Ollie Delaney (11 retired from 30 balls) were the only batters to make double figures, while Max Rees also made the 30 ball retirement mark with eight runs.
The junior Bulls bowled well and reduced Colac to 5/55 before the home team passed the score in the 19th over, ending the Bulls hopes of back to back under 17 premierships.
Josh Reynolds led the bowling with 3/18 from 4.4 overs, Gavin Reynolds took 1/12 from five overs with Fletcher Tolland also taking a wicket.
Read More: local