Sport
13 March, 2026
Nail-biting finish for premiers
THE season is over for Pomborneit’s division one team after a win and a loss over the weekend in the first two rounds of finals in the Colac-South West premier cricket competition.
On Saturday, the seventh placed Bulls met sixth placed Heytesbury-Princetown in an elimination final at the unfamiliar surrounds of the Warrion Recreation Reserve.
Batting first, Pomborneit were 4/67 before Josh Place and Tharaka Sendanayake put on 148 for the fifth wicket.
“Josh is really maturing as a batsman, it was another really disciplined innings from him and shows he has taken the next step in his game,” Pomborneit captain Grant Place said.
“Senda again lifted when we needed him to, he’s been really damaging in recent weeks when he’s got going.”
Josh Place made 59 from 113 balls, hitting two fours and a six, with Sendanayake scoring an innings high 90 from 92 balls, with seven fours and two sixes as the Bulls posted 8/232 from 50 overs.
The Storm got off to a good start with 66 for the first wicket before Matt Bignell claimed captain Matt Love for 32.
“We bowled tight despite not getting that early breakthrough so it never felt like they got away from us.”
A 72 run partnership for the fourth wicket between Travis Brown and Ash Hunt kept the game close before Sendanayake claimed two quick wickets.
Lahiru Fernando closed out his bowling spell with three of the last four wickets to fall, finishing with 4/47, with Sam Darcy getting a late wicket in a rare stint at the bowling crease as the Storm fell short at 9/210 from their 50 overs.
“Any finals win is a good win, the Storm are a very tough team so our performance on Saturday was very pleasing.”
The Warrion ground drew high praise from Place.
“It was as good as any ground you’d find anywhere. The wicket was superb, the outfield was elite, we’d love to play there more.”
Pomborneit batted first again in Sunday’s semi-final against Colac at the Eastern Reserve, making 9/241 from their 50 overs.
Lahiru Fernando top scored with 63, hitting nine boundaries and a six, with Grant Place run out for 40 from 51 balls and opener Matt Bignell making 29 from 47.
“We were pretty happy with our score, nearly everyone got a start, we probably needed a couple more to go on with it a bit.”
The run chase saw the momentum ebb and flow, with Colac 4/48, then 5/181 before being 7/199, still needing 43 with 6.3 overs to go.
Colac lower order batsman Liam Cunningham smashed 41 not out, with four sixes, to get the Stallions home in the 49th over without losing another wicket.
“We had our chances, we put down a couple that really cost us. Their fielding was better than ours on the day and probably ended up being the difference in the game.”
Paceman Roshane Fernando led the Pomborneit bowling with 4/44 from 10 overs, with spinners Lahiru Fernando, Matt Bignell and Josh Reynolds taking a wicket each.
“It always hurts to lose a final and get knocked out, particularly when you’re right in the game and have had chances.
“This will hurt for a while and shows we have some areas of professionalism we have to get better at to contend in this competition.”
Pomborneit’s division two team are through to tomorrow’s grand final after a three wicket win over Heytesbury-Princetown Blue.
Bulls skipper Charlie Voutier won the toss and sent the Storm into bat at the Pomborneit Recreation Reserve.
The Storm reached 1/65 before regular wickets started to fall, with the catalyst some tight bowling through the middle overs from Stephen Hill and Fletcher Tolland.
Hill went for just 12 runs from his eight overs, while Tolland took 2/17.
Levi Cootesmith took two wickets as the Storm reached 7/138, with their eighth wicket pair adding an unbeaten 36 to finish on 7/174.
Voutier got the Bulls off to a great start with 49 from 56 balls until a middle order crash saw Pomborneit 7/129, needing 47 with 9.2 overs left.
It took 37 balls for Stephen Hill and Levi Cootesmith to knock off the remaining runs without further loss.
Hill scored 54 not out from 54 balls with four boundaries, while Cootesmith made his highest score at division two level of 29 not out.
In tomorrow’s grand final at SA Wright Oval, Pomborneit plays Bookaar.
The division three semi-final between the two Pomborneit teams saw Pomborneit Gold score a dominant 10 wicket win over Pomborneit Maroon.
While the home and away clashes between the two teams saw a win each in tight contests, the semi-final was as good as over when Maroon was dismissed for just 53 in 30.1 overs.
Captain Donnie McInnes, with 12 from 52 balls, and Andy Raven, with 9 from 36 were the only batsmen to show much resistance.
Matt Richardson took the new ball with his off-spinners and took 3/12 from eight overs, with new ball partner Stephen Walters taking 3/14.
Skipper Aaron Van Es took 2/5 from three, with a wicket each to Tayla Reynolds and Sam Tolland.
Gold openers Richardson, with 35 not out from 33 balls, and Garry Riches, with 15 not out, led the team to victory in just 10.3 overs.
In tomorrow’s division three grand final at Camperdown number two, Pomborneit Gold take on Heytesbury-Princetown, a team that hasn’t been beaten for three years.
In the Colac District Cricket Association under 14 division two grand final last Friday night, Pomborneit had a thrilling one wicket win over City United Gold at CMTP Oval.
City United batted first, making 6/124 from their 30 overs.
Max Rahles-Rahbula took 2/3 from two overs, with Wally Rees, Basil Hunt and Mateo Boyd taking a wicket each.
Bailey Fox and captain Noah Boyd got the junior Bulls off to a blistering start, Fox retiring on 36 and Boyd on 31.
Solid middle order contributions came from Crawford Dunn with nine runs, Hamish Christensen 13 and Hamish Bishop nine.
Unfortunately for Pomborneit, 7/121 quickly turned into 9/121.
Noah Boyd returned to the crease and hit a two, with a no-ball to end the over resulting in a tied result.
The 25th over began with Mateo Boyd, younger brother of the captain and who hadn’t scored in the 20 balls he had faced, calmly guiding the ball behind point to seal the win.
At the post match presentations, Bailey Fox was awarded the player of the match medal.
Read More: Pomborneit