Finalists found at Bushrangers Championships

The country teams turned the tables in the under-14 semi-finals, however, with the Barwon Rockets and Northern Rivers advancing to the championship decider.

Both finals will be held at Dandenong on February 10, prior to the Under-18 final at the MCG on February 24.

The best team performance of the day no doubt went to the under-14 Northern Rivers, who recovered from a dire position at 7-60 to ultimately defeat Mallee Murray Bulls for a place in the final.

The recovery effort, led by Mitchell McGrath (46*), saw the Rivers post a competitive 9-139 at the conclusion of their 40 overs.

”It was a slow outfield and the pitch was batting pretty low and when we got to 140 I thought we were looking pretty good,” Rivers coach Tim Kelly told the Shepparton News.

”We just bowled good lines and lengths and all week we haven’t relied on two or three players, we bat all the way down to 11 and show and showed a lot character to win.”

In reply, the Bulls struggled with the Rivers’ tight bowling, unable to maintain significant partnerships through their batting order.

Kayden Cullinan threatened to steal the game for the Bulls with an unbeaten 52, but it was not be, with the Coomealla Wentworth batsman running out of partners as his side was dismissed for 116, some 23 runs adrift of the Rivers.

In the opposite semi-final, the Rockets made tough work of what appeared to be a comfortable chase, getting over the line eight wickets down against the Knights.

Having dismissed the dangerous Bradley Melville without scoring, the Rockets capitalized on their momentum, restricting the Knights to 9-114 from their 40 overs during a terrific bowling display.

The Knights refused to roll over, with a mid-order collapse reducing the Rockets to 7-81, but some intelligent batting from Fraser Jepson (21*) saw his side home with eight balls to spare.

In the under-16 semi-finals, an unbeaten 84 from the competition’s leading run-scorer, Liam Smith, capped off a terrific carnival for the Emus, who chased down the Rivers’ 7-178 with five overs to spare.

Opener Smith, who finished the week with 298 runs, batted through the chase to ensure the Emus would get another crack at a state title after the same age group won the under-14 crown in 2010-11.

At Frankston, the Falcons just scraped over the line against a determined Inner South East Scorpions outfit.

Chasing 155 after Jacob Ireland took 4-24, the Falcons were seemingly cruising at 2-84 with Victorian under-17 representative Liam Banthorpe (52) controlling proceedings.

A steady stream of wickets reduced the Falcons to 7-135, but some smart tail end batting ensured the total was overhauled with two wickets in hands.

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To see full results from the Victorian Bushrangers Pathway Championships, click here.