mmg.com.au

The penultimate round of the Seymour District Cricket Association two-day competition promises to make nothing much clearer after the first day on Saturday.

The clash between second and third, Alexandra and Eastern Hill, was reduced to a one-day match this week after heavy rain last Thursday left Leckie Park unplayable.

Defending premier Avenel needs two wins to make the finals, and gave itself every chance with a dominant batting display at Tallarook, while Nagambie will fancy its chances of the points after dominating the first day at Chittick Park.

Should Avenel and Nagambie win, and Kilmore beat Broadford, four teams will be tied on 36 points in the race for the last finals berth with one round to go.

Meanwhile, there was no such luck for an undermanned SDCA side at Melbourne Country Week. The association will be relegated to Division Four next year after the weather intervened with victory likely in its final game.Tallarook v Avenel

Tallarook won the toss and put Avenel in on a wicket with a greenish tinge.

But that didn’t worry the visitors, who set about compiling 292, the premier’s best batting effort this season in a game it must win to keep alive its hopes of a sixth straight title.

It was an all-round effort, too, with opener Kasey Duncan top-scoring with 53 off 84 balls (in a 61-run opening stand with Dean Lowis), Willie Wheeler and Chris Tingay getting 44 apiece (the former off 40 balls and the pair combining for a 72-run fifth wicket partnership), Mick Donovan making 27, Shaun Pearce 25 and Jackson Wheeler a quick-fire 22 (including two big sixes off a Sam Watts over).

Brett Tarran was among the best of the bowlers for Tallarook.Seymour v Nagambie

Seymour’s batting woes continued at Chittick Park, with the home side dismissed for a disappointing 126 in 57 overs.

Only opener Joe Pollock (33) got a start of the batsmen, but Seymour slumped badly after being 1-38.

Some late resistance from Glen Loraine (22) — before he was smartly run out — and Peter Fish (13) saw Seymour pass three figures.

Nagambie skipper Mitch Winter-Irving (4-27) knocked the top off the Seymour batting, while Tyrone Muir (3-15) cleaned up near the end in what was a good fielding display by the visitors, including two sharp run-outs.

In reply Nagambie overcame some early stutters as James Noonan and Michael Sloan were soon back in the pavilion to reach 2-42 at stumps.

Winter-Irving and Mark Berens will resume for the visitors with some handy batting still to come.Kilmore v Broadford

Broadford is the other side still in the hunt for a finals berth but will have the task ahead of it next week as the home side posted 263, being dismissed in the last over of the day.

The Kilmore batting has been the most consistent of any side this season — a major reason it is top of the ladder — and so it proved again on Saturday.

Justin Collis led the way with 58, while all bar one batsman made double figures. The Travises — Hede (31) and Blackwell (27) — were next best.Under 16 & Under 14 semi-finals

Nagambie will host Kilmore in the under-16 final on Sunday after both sides recorded easy wins in their semi-finals.

Nagambie batted first after winning the toss against Puckapunyal and reached 7-150. A-grade players Kyle Winter-Irving (52) and Matt Deane (29) led the way, while Luke Marshall (3-25) and Soul Jensen (2-23) were the best of the Puckapunyal bowlers.

In reply the visitors could manage just 40, with no batsman reaching double figures. Reece Barns was the top scorer with seven.

For Nagambie, Jarryd Shepherd took 4-3 while another A-grade player, Brayden Biggs, took 2-7.

Kilmore hosted Seymour, with the visitors batting first after winning the toss.

Seymour made 86, with the stand-out being Andrew McGahey with 41. James Hyde took 3-13 for Kilmore, which reached 5-93 in reply with opener Joseph Slattery leading the way with 34.

Lachie Drummond was the best of the Seymour bowlers with 2-19.

Nagambie and Kilmore played in the under-14 semi-finals as well, but despite having home advantage neither side was a winner.

Nagambie batted first against Broadford and managed 5-86. Jarryd Shepherd top-scored again — in his first game of the weekend — with an unbeaten 20. Ben Hicks (2-2) and Nathan Zygmunt (2-5) were the best bowlers for Broadford, which made 5-93 in reply.

Connor Stute made 31 before retiring while James Scully also retired after reaching 30.

Kilmore sent Avenel in and the visitors reached 81. The competition’s leading batsman, Max Jones, made 30 before retiring and Huw Jones made 21. Nick Simons took 4-4 and Josh Buttler 3-6 for Kilmore.

Buttler was also the home side’s top scorer as it managed 8-49 in reply. Ollie Aitken took 2-1 for Avenel while Todd Lawrence took 2-6.

Avenel will host Broadford in the final on Saturday morning with the home side looking for back-to-back premierships.

Melbourne Country Week

The SDCA side has been relegated to Division Four for next year’s Melbourne Country Week as initially a lack of numbers then a thunderstorm conspired against its chances.

Mitch Winter-Irving ended up captaining the side after an eye injury ruled Paul Arandt out for the week.

A 10-man side went down to Wangaratta in the first game — reported on in last week’s Telegraph — before the side took on Colac at Oakleigh.

Seymour won the toss and sent Colac in, and after reducing its opponent to 4-45, and later 7-189, found itself having to chase 231. Ben Cooper was the best of the bowlers with 3-51.

But Seymour was dismissed for 200 in reply off 44.4 overs, with Xavier Youngman top-scoring with 47. David Heather made 39, Luke Brennan 26 and Leigh Irving 24. Heather and Irving combined for a 55-run eighth-wicket partnership off 89 balls.

The game the following day was against eventual Division Three winner Yarra Valley. Seymour was sent in at Casey and managed 216 off 44.5 overs.

David Lawler top-scored with 49 while Youngman made 39, Winter-Irving 31, Hayden Smith 28 and Irving 25. Youngman and Smith put on 66 for the first wicket off 84 balls.

In reply Yarra Valley reached 9-288 off about 55 overs. Brennan took 5-38 and Smith 2-50.

The final game was against Gisborne at Essendon on Thursday. After winning the toss and batting, Seymour made 7-241.

Jac Smith-Williams led the way with 94, Youngman’s good form continued with 38, Matthew Robertson scored 34 and Jarrod Pink made an unbeaten 24.

Gisborne was struggling at 6-94 in reply off 34 overs — Brock Boddington took 2-17 — when a thunderstorm washed out the rest of the game. The draw saw Gisborne stay up while Seymour was relegated.

Youngman led the SDCA batting averages with 139 runs at 34.75, while Smith-Williams scored 122 (30.5) and Winter-Irving 116 (29).

Brennan was the leading bowler with 11 wickets at 12, and Cooper took five wickets at 29.

■More photos from the weekend’s cricket action on the Telegraph’s website at mmg.com.au/seymoursport