In a rain interrupted weekend MUCC came out even. The VWCA XI had a fantastic win to keep their finals hopes alive, while the 5th XI were unable to finish their fixture due to rain. In the premier grades Anthony Barton lead the way with a fine century to put the 2nd XI in a good position as they fight for a finals spot. The 1st XI will have some work to do if they are to win the Michael Sholly Cup. No play was possible in the 3rd XI and the 4th XI probably has the upper hand after winning the toss and bowling.

The all important toss was lost at the Uni Main. This meant the 1s were asked to bat first on a wicket that was going to assist the bowlers. Some superb swing bowling from Adam Dale and an excellent spell from his partner in crime Phil Halbish meant the Uni batsmen were never able to feel comfortable. Brett Murphy top scored with a brave 34 from 168 balls in 208 minutes. The only other decent contribution came from the promoted Terrence Dixon with 28. In the end MUCC were dismissed for a paltry 126. In reply the Dees are 0/1. To win the Sholly Cup MUCC are going to have bowl out of their skins next Saturday.

At the Albert Ground the day belonged to Anthony Barton. Matt Marshall lost the toss and Melbourne 2s chose to bowl in the bowler friendly conditions. Barton opened the batting and showed the way by scoring a century in a fine return to form. His innings of 113 included 13 4s. The only other batsmen to support Barton were Nick Hutton (27) in a partnership of 68 and 2nd XI debutant Ahilan Sivakumaran with 17 in a 67 run stand. Barton was 7th man dismissed with the score on 199. Keeper Tim Robertson (23) helped to add some late runs as MUCC tumbled to be all out for 222. Melbourne faced 5 overs at the end of the day and reached stumps unscathed at 0 for 9.

The rain on Thursday evening and again on Saturday morning meant no play was possible in the 3rd XI match at the Crawford Oval. This weekend will see 80 overs bowled and with both skippers reportedly keen to get a result it could be an entertaining day’s cricket.

After a delayed start at the Ian Johnston Oval 4th XI skipper Mark Bhattacharyya won the toss and elected to bowl on a soft wicket. Lachie Richards (1/20) made the initial breakthrough before Demons added 86 for the second wicket. A number of chances failed to go to hand as the batsmen rode their luck. The introduction of spin turned the game with Bhattacharyya (1/11) breaking the partnership before Hamish Bull (2/30) picked up 2 wickets. Matt Doyle in his return game from injury then took another wicket which meant MUCC had taken 4 for 21. From the fall of the 5th wicket Melbourne adopted a safety first policy with their intention clearly to make it through to stumps with as many wickets in hand as possible. Doyle claimed another victim to finish with 2/23 from 10 overs. The final score from the 55 completed overs was 6/152. MUCC will be hoping to clean up the tail next week before chasing down the target.

The MCA XI fixture against South Yarra on Sunday was abandoned at 11:30am in wet and overcast conditions, with showers forecast for the afternoon. In became a case of what could have been minutes later when the sun came out and the clouds stayed away all afternoon. The match ended in a draw.

The VWCA XI lost the toss against Moonee Valley and were sent in to bat. Uni reached 5/183 from 40 overs - the runs were shared across the board with four batters scoring 20+. The bowling was impressive getting Moonee Valley out for 32 in the 22nd over. Rachelle (3/16), Ellie (2/4) and Madeleine (2/5) shared the wickets along with Khay (1/4) and Laura (1/1). With this win the VWCA XI are still in the race for the finals - though still need to win the last two matches to book a place in March action.

The side takes on Edinburgh next Sunday at Edinburgh.