Anglesea and Inverleigh win BPCA premierships

ANGLESEA and Inverleigh have come out on top in the top tier of the BPCA, winning their cricket grand finals against Jan Juc and Winchelsea respectively.

The BPCA A1 Grade and A2 Grade grand finals were scheduled to be played on Saturday, but were pushed to Sunday because of the heavy rain.

In the A1 Grade decider at Eastern Reserve, Anglesea won the toss and decided to bat, finishing at 4/193 off their 40 overs thanks to good hitting early from Ned Cooper (56) and late from Jacob Nolan (56 not out).

Jan Juc could only post 134 in reply, with Anglesea’s Leigh Kentish doing most of the damage with 3/15.

It is back-to-back A1 Grade flags for the Roos, and Anglesea president Brett Kerr welcomed this year’s premiership coming in the usual way, compared to the 2019/20 flag Anglesea received by virtue of being top of the ladder in a COVID-shortened season.

“You get the benefit of the doubt because you’ve had a great year, but it’s not the same … it was a good feeling winning it this year,” Kerr said.

“It’s two years in a row they’ve been undefeated, so it was a great effort on the boys’ behalf.”

Winchelsea won the toss in the A2 Grade grand final against Inverleigh and batted, racking up 127 off their 40 overs at Ellimatta Reserve. Adam Korth top scored with 25, and Locke Perrett took 3/28.

In response, none of Inverleigh’s first three batters broke into double digits and wickets fell at regular intervals, leaving them with just 88 as the ninth wicket fell.

Tailenders Kobe George and Nick Platt then covered themselves in glory, mounting an unbeaten 41-run stand to take Inverleigh to 129 and secure the premiership.

In the other BPCA grand finals, Barrabool chased down Anglesea’s 127 in B1 Grade, Armstrong Creek lost only two wickets on the way to 161 against Portarlington in B2 Grade, Jan Juc defeated Ocean Grove in C1 Grade, and Portarlington rolled Queenscliff for 64 and posted a winning score in 20 overs in the One-Day Competition.