By Tomas Fogarty

Euroa 3–123 (M Walters 37* retired, E Saxon 19* retired) defeated Mooroopna 7–65 (K Wolfenden 2/4, A Wilson 1/3)

AFTER the school holiday break, Euroa hosted Mooroopna at the Memorial Oval on a sweltering Friday evening for a one–day match.

The added incentive of this match was that the winner would advance to the one–day final, to be played on Australia Day.

Winning the toss, Euroa had no hesitation in batting first and they got off to a solid start.

An unfortunate mix up saw in form opener Archie Wilson (5) run out early, bringing Wil Smyth (16* retired) to the crease to partner up with Mitch Walters (37* retired).

Both players batted with intent and showed controlled aggression with their shot selection and pulled of some impressive big hitting.

Mitch finished with a flurry, hitting three sixes in a row to retire on 37 after his allotted 20 balls.

The pair put on a 52 run partnership and gave the team a very solid foundation to post a high score.

Walter Jackson (16* retired) and Ethan Saxon (19* retired) went about their innings in a more circumspect manner, accumulating their runs through quick singles and continually rotating the strike.

This was just as effective as the earlier batting display as they ticked over the scoreboard with a run rate better than a run a ball.

A couple of quick wickets had the innings stall slightly but a late cameo from Kusuma Wolfenden (12) guided Euroa to a score of 3/123 and in the box seat to win the match.

Euroa headed out to bowl and were very sharp in the field from the start, keeping the pressure on with Mooroopna on the back foot.

This culminated in Mitch Walters and Wil Smyth combining again to cause a run out.

From this point Euroa starved Mooroopna of runs, with a steady flow of wickets sealing the win.

All bowlers contributed to the victory, with Kusuma Wolfenden (2/4) providing the best figures whilst Jai McMillan (1/7) broke through to claim his first wicket in the U16 competition.

Mooroopna finished on 7/65 after their allocated 20 overs.

This was the last home and away match of the year with Euroa making both the one–day final and the semi–final of the competition proper.

Next week, Euroa will play the one–day final on Australia Day against Old Students at Kialla.