Sport
28 February, 2025
Laane face Clunes in 23/24 final replay
Laanecoorie Dunolly will look to add an exclamation point to their 50th-anniversary celebrations when they take on Clunes at Deledio Recreation Reserve.
These two faced off against each other in the 2023/24 season finale, culminating in Laane capturing a quintet of consecutive two-day premierships.
While the two teams have gone into separate directions this season, many key players remain on both sides who will be looking to replicate their grand final performances.
After being sent into bat first, the Magpies got off to a rocky start at 3/36 before 2023/24 MDCA Team of the Year members Jude McGuire and Mitch Coppick combined for a marvelous 183-run partnership, dismissed for 85 and 97 respectively.
Both batters are in a good run of form heading into round 13, with McGuire averaging 33.3 in his last three innings for Clunes while Coppick was the Magpies’ best batter against Carisbrook, finishing on 46.
Chasing 244 for the premiership, openers Luke Smith and Tom Hannett had Laane flying out of the blocks with a 94-run partnership.
Hannett has continued last season’s form to produce one of the best batting seasons in the club’s history.
Entering into the final regular season game of his third season at Laane, Hannett has scored 480 runs excluding the One Day Final, the sixth most runs scored by a Laanecoorie Dunolly player in a regular season.
Hannett will need to replicate his performance against Colts Phelans in round 12 and score his third century of the season to take the top spot from Samit Gohil’s remarkable 2022/23 season, where he scored 579 runs with an utter worldly 144.75 average.
Sam Bartlett and captain Matt Smith put the finishing touches on the run chase to win Laane the 2023/24 premiership by five wickets.
Mark Allen caused the most problems for Laane during their premiership-winning innings and he’ll be looking to produce similar figures of 2/23 if handed the ball on Saturday.
Laane is 2-0 against the Magpies this season, winning by 194 runs in round five and taking a less comfortable victory in round eight by five wickets.
Alex Cook was a star with the bat in round five, cooking up a storm to finish unbeaten on 116 off just 80 balls.
The Magpies’ leading run scorer Anthony Ellis also excelled during the round five matchup, with the opener scoring 62.
It was a battle with the ball in the round eight encounter, as Zach Graham collected a five-wicket haul for his best figures of the season before his 7/49 against Colts Phelans last round.
Brendan Ingram was the pick of the bowlers for Clunes, who can go into the Magpies’ final game of the season with confidence after taking two wickets against Laane in round eight and three wickets against Carisbrook in round 12.