U18 State Champs: Falcons, Breakers, Rivers and Pride advance to semis

In a rain-reduced match, the Falcons sent the North East Knights in to bat first.

While a number of the Knights made starts (Tearan Gleeson 40, Christopher Galvin 27, Reid Clarke 24), the inability to consolidate meant that their total ended up much smaller than they would have liked (8-140).

Ireland did most of the damage, picking up 3-32 off five overs.

In response, a shaky start to the Falcons’ run chase saw them in a vulnerable position at 2-29 in the early overs.

Keeper James Cummane (44) soon steadied things before Ireland (43*) again took charge, scoring at just over a run a ball to lead the team home along side Tom Simpson (10*).

The Falcons will take on the Northern Rivers in a semi final at Melbourne University today.

The Rivers won their way through by defeating the North West Wizards in comprehensive fashion.

After containing the Wizards to 144, the Rivers had 35 overs to chase down the target in another rain-reduced contest.

Rhiley Lau led the charge, scoring over two-thirds of his team’s score, notching up a brilliant unbeaten century as well as hitting the winning runs at the same time.

The Rivers won the game with five wickets in hand.

The South East Bayside Breakers also won through to the semi finals, following a confident win over the Barwon Rockets.

Chasing just 115 (37 overs), Josh O’Donnell (37) and Will Pucovski (31) built a mature innings that saw the Breakers home with seven overs to spare (3-116 off 30 overs).

The Breakers will face the Gippsland Pride in the other semi final at Princess Park today.

The Pride had a free ride through to the semis after wet conditions forced their quarter final against the Central Highlands to be abandoned.

In a cruel result for the Highlanders, the Pride progressed to the semis due to a better win-loss ratio throughout the tournament so far.