By LIAM TWOMEY
FOOTSCRAY Edgewater has qualified for the Victorian Premier Cricket grand final after defeating Geelong by 24 runs.
Hosting the game at Mervyn Hughes Oval, Footscray captain Dean Russ won the toss and elected to bat on day one.
After powering through their first final, the Bulldogs didn’t have things all their own way as a fired-up Geelong bowling attack made early strikes.
The Cats removed Anthony Barton, Travis Dean and John Hastings cheaply to leave Footscray in trouble at 3/35.
Through Russ and wicket keeper Dylan Kight, Footscray battled back, adding 50 for the fourth wicket.
However, there was more trouble to follow with both set batsmen sent on their way within 13 runs of each other to leave the score at 5/98.
Australian under 19 representative Guy Walker then showed his talents, batting brilliantly on his way to 51.
He was well supported by Shanuka Dissanayaka with the pair edging the total towards 200.
With all the recognised batsmen back in the sheds, the Footscray tail did its best to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
They combined for a valuable 20 before the wicket of Michael Kelly ended the innings.
That left Geelong needing 219 to seal the win and the Cats’ chase got off to a strong start.
Geelong moved to 4/161, leaving the batting side needing 57 runs with six wickets in hand.
It may have looked an easy task on paper, but it proved just the opposite as Hastings wreaked havoc with the ball.
He combined with Jake Haberfield to blitz through the Geelong lower order.
At one stage, the Cats lost 4/2 and were eventually bowled out for 194 in the 66th over.
Hastings finished the innings with the outstanding figures of 5/45 while Haberfield took 4/81.
The other wicket to fall was taken by Hamish Winter-Irving.
For Geelong, James Crosthwaite was by far the best of the batsmen, producing a stunning 118 and batting through the majority of the innings.
But he was unable to get enough support from his teammates, with the next best score just 19.
Footscray will now play Essendon in the Victorian Premier Cricket grand final after the Bombers knocked off top-of-the-table St Kilda in their semi-final clash.
The match will be played on Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week at the Junction Oval.
