Premier Men falter late in loss to Bloods

A BOTTOM-order batting collapse has seen Geelong’s Premier Men’s Firsts go down to Casey South Melbourne in a one-day clash last weekend.

After a promising first innings, the Cats fell 58 runs short of the target score to make a finals berth difficult to achieve with four rounds to play.

The Bloods won the toss and opted to bat on their home deck, with Geelong’s bowling attack striking regularly to stop their momentum.

A runout by Cats vice-captain Josh Garner on the last ball saw them finish the 50 overs all out for 212.

Garner impressed in the first innings, taking three wickets and adding two runouts, whilst captain Joshua Larking took two wickets to set the reachable target score.

In the second innings, Geelong faced early trouble as they sat at 4-29, but were able to steady until Liam Blackford went out with their score at 6-110.

From there, Casey South Melbourne’s Ashvin Adihetty ripped through the Cats to see them all out for just 155 in the 42nd over. Adihetty finished the match with five wickets, including the last four for his side.

Blackford top scored for Geelong with 47 runs, while Eamonn Vines and Zane Attard added 30 each.

The loss sees the Cats drop to 13th with a 5-7 record. They now face 15th-placed Fitzroy Doncaster at home, with a win the only option if they are to move back up the ladder.

The Seconds went down by six wickets, whilst the Thirds and Fourths both secured wins by three runs and six wickets respectively.