Sport
12 March, 2026
Gonawala steers Cats to victory
MORTLAKE is through to the last four of the Warrnambool Moyne and District Cricket Association finals after a two wicket win over Russells Creek on the weekend.
Russells Creek won the toss and elected to bat first at Jetty Flat Reserve, and were all out in the 77th over on Saturday for 163 despite some weather interruptions.
“The morning started off really good and then the dark clouds rolled over and it started raining,” Mortlake co-captain Craig Britten said.
“We lost an hour in total, which actually wasn’t too bad considering the other finals lost 20 odd overs for the day; we actually got all our overs in.”
Britten was thrilled with Mortlake’s efforts with the ball considering the conditions.
“The ball went to being like a piece of soap pretty quick with a couple of balls that went into the outfield.
“It just made it really wet and hard to bowl with, but we managed to do okay.”
The Cats started well, having Creek 2/14 early.
While four Russells Creek batsmen made scores in the 30s, none went any further as Mortlake took regular wickets.
“A couple of their blokes got starts, but they never actually went on with it, which was good for us.
“Every time they put on a partnership, we were able to break through.”
The important wicket of Russells Creek star Cam Williams, for 34 from 118 balls, was a big moment.
“To restrict them to 160-odd was really good and probably the wicket of Cam Williams was the one that got us started.
“Jack Lehman took a pretty good catch in the gully to dismiss him, a one hander, and that sort of turned it our way, and we just gradually kept taking wickets.”
Britten led the bowling with 4/43 from 18.2 overs with experienced pair Clinton Baker and Todd Lamont taking two wickets each.
“We’ve been bowling well as a unit all season.
“Clinton always charges in even though he’s getting on a bit, he’s still our quickest bowler, and he’s still probably our best bowler; we can rely on him to do a job every week.”
SUNGOLD DIVISION 1 PREMIER DIVISION
FINALS ROUND 1
RUSSELLS CREEK v MORTLAKE - TWO DAY MATCH
Russells Creek 10/163 (76.2) lost to Mortlake 8/166 (65)
In reply on Sunday, Mortlake slumped to 4/33 before partnerships of 62 for the fifth wicket between Saman Gonawala and Jack Lehmann and 38 for the sixth wicket between Gonawala and Oliver Mahncke put the Cats on track.
“We lost some early wickets, which we’ve spoken about weekly, it’s sort of a trend at the moment for us.
“Sammy (Gonawala) and Jack really steadied us, they put their shots away, Jack is a stroke player, so for him to put his shots away and just dig in for us was fantastic.”
Lehmann made 24 from 62 balls, with Mahncke contributing 18 from 49.
But it was Gonawala, with 83 not out from 179 balls with six fours and a six, who led Mortlake to victory, with the Cats passing the score in the 65th over eight wickets down.
“As always happens against Russells Creek, they come back and they got a couple of wickets and we had to really fight to get the win at the end.
“Sammy got a bit frustrated there at the start, but once he settled into it he got some shots away and then he really anchored the innings for us.”
In this week’s semi-final, Mortlake play Allansford-Panmure at Allansford.
“We’re excited, we’re geed up for the game and there’s kind of no pressure on us now.
“We’ll go out and give it a crack, we’ve got nothing to lose.”
In the championship division, Mortlake finished their season with a six wicket loss to Hawkesdale at Hawkesdale.
Batting first, Mortlake made 9/115 from its 45 overs.
Opener Cooper Herry made 42 from 112 balls, with stand-in captain Sonny Podger scoring 34 from 67.
Hawkesdale passed the score in the 30th over for the loss of four wickets.
The championship Cats finished the season in seventh place with two wins and nine losses.
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