By Tara Murray
It was a disappointing end to a promising season for Point Cook Centrals in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association Roy Picone Shield.
Playing in division 3 for the first time, the Sharks managed to make finals in both their first and second XIs.
Grand final dreams came to an end on Sunday, as both teams suffered semi final losses.
Sharks’ Brett Talbot said it wasn’t the way that they wanted to end the season.
“The ones and twos just fell short unfortunately,” he said. “It wasn’t a great result for us.
“We reassessed half way through the year and we thought we were a little bit better than how our thought process had been.
“We thought we were in with a good chance to give it a crack, but we didn’t turn up on Saturday.”
Talbot said there wasn’t much between the four finalists, three who had played in division 4 finals last season.
The Sharks first XI faced Moonee Valley in a semi final across the weekend.
It was day one with the bat that ended up being the part that proved costly for the Sharks.
The Sharks were bowled out for just 139 in the 62nd over.
Jack Gage top scored with 47 as only one other batter passed 20.
“It makes it really hard,” Talbot said. “You have to do everything right.
“We didn’t have enough players stick in partnerships and we weren’t batting together.”
Talbot said they had some moments in the run chase, including a couple of dropped catches, that would have made it a bit closer.
Moonee Valley finished 6-140 in 64 overs.
Krish Kanchan took three wickets for the Sharks.
Moonee Valley will now face Gellibrand in a rematch of last season’s division 4 grand final.
Talbot said they would take a lot out of this season.
“There was a lot of disappointment, which is a good thing,” he said. “It drives you to have success and we have to learn from it.
“We’ll have some conversations on what it will look like going forward.”
Talbot said overall the club continues to go from strength to strength.
In the Evans-Clark Shield, Bellbridge’s season also came to an end.
The Bears were bowled out for 173 with Arun Joiya top scoring with 57.
The Melton South Royals reached with about seven overs remaining, finishing 7-176.
The Royals will face East Coburg in the grand final.
