St Patrick's v Lavington: Grand final coverage from Lavington Sports Ground

Lavington clinched their second premiership in three years with an emphatic victory over St Patrick's on Saturday.

Player-of-the-match Chris Galvin starred with a classy 69 as the Panthers racked up 7/223 before returning with the ball to pick up four wickets as the Patties were bowled out for 173.

Ryan Brown was sensational on his way to 4-24 as the entire Lavington attack combined to apply the pressure.

St Patrick's were staring down the barrel early in the run-chase at 4/27 and that left them a mountain to climb which ultimately proved insurmountable.

Sam Harris (44) earlier shared a 73-run partnership with Galvin while Oscar Lyons and Aidan Cook swung the bat to good effect late in Lavington's innings.

St Patrick's coach Liam Scammell scored a lion-hearted 77 off 126 balls but his efforts were to prove in vain as the Panthers closed out victory in the 48th over.

17.52 - WICKET

Galvin strikes again, Evans caught behind by Aidan Cook.

Lavington are two wickets from glory at 8/158.

17.45

Galvin picks up the wicket of Gus Kilby, caught by Sam O'Connor for 19.

St Patrick's 7/144 with seven overs to go and the Panthers can taste victory now.

17.40

St Pat's 6/136 with nine overs to go.

Scammell (64) looks exhausted but he battles on.

17.25 - FIFTY

Liam Scammell brings up his half-century with a quick single off Galvin.

It's been a lion-hearted effort by the Patties coach, who's faced 100 balls and helped rebuild this scorecard from the earlier wreckage of 4/27.

St Patrick's 6/110 in the 39^th over.

17.13 - WICKET

Lavington strike straight after drinks, Nicholas Brown bowled by Chris Galvin for a dogged 14.

St Patrick's 6/97 as Angus Kilby walks out to join his coach in the middle.

17.05

St Patrick's are hanging in there. Scammell (42) and Brown (13) have put on 36 together and Patties have reached 5/93 with 17 overs remaining. They are chasing 224, remember.

16.35

Lavington are giving absolutely nothing away with the ball.

Dave Tassell has picked up where Brown and Docherty left off - his six overs have gone for just FOUR runs.

St Patrick's 5/63 after 24 overs.

16.15

Five down! Nick Roebuck comes into the attack and his left-arm spin claims a victim within five balls. Nicholson gone for eight, caught by Sharp - his second - and the Panthers have one hand on the premiership shield.

St Patrick's 5/53.

16.10

St Patrick's have reached drinks (17 overs) without any further damage.

They're 4/53 with Scammell 16 and Dean Nicholson 8.

Ryan Brown has bowled eight overs straight and has figures of 3-24 with two maidens.

15.42 - WICKET

St Pat's are in in tatters.

Chisoro gone for one, giving Matt Sharp a straightforward catch.

Ryan Brown has three wickets and boy, is he pumped.

4/27

15.38 - WICKET

Mitch O'Brien clips Luke Docherty straight to Jordan Rhodes and Lavington tighten their grip on this grand final. Tendai Chisoro comes out to join Liam Scammell with a major rescue mission needed if St Patrick's are to have any chance from here. Lavington's opening pair have been superb from ball one.

Patties 3/26 in the ninth.

15.25 - WICKET

Brown hits Smith on the pad, the finger goes up and the Panthers are all over Brown, roaring in delight. The Scot has to go for nine and St Patrick's are in trouble at 2/17.

15.23

Docherty finds Smith's outside edge but it flies through the slips.

Lavington are up and about here, Patties 1/13 (5).

15.17 - WICKET

Crawshaw didn't get hold of that at all, dollying a Ryan Brown delivery straight into the waiting mitts of a delighted Dave Tassell.

Perfect start for Lavington with St Pat's 1/12.

15.08 - THE CHASE IS ON

Neil Smith cuts Luke Docherty away for four and that's got the Patties supporters going.

The next ball misses the outside edge by a whisker.

St Patrick's 0/5 (1)

14.32 - LAVINGTON SET ST PATRICK'S 224 TO WIN

St Patrick's will need to pull off another tough run-chase to beat Lavington in the provincial grand final.

The Panthers, having won the toss, had no hesitation in batting first and racked up an imposing 7/223 at Lavington Sports Ground.

Chris Galvin scored a high-quality 69, sharing a 73-run partnership with Sam Harris, who raced to 44 off 45 balls with two sixes and two fours.

Oscar Lyons blasted 20 off 16 balls after Jordan Rhodes (26) had earlier helped lay the foundation with a painstaking knock off 83 balls.

Patties coach Liam Scammell picked up 4-45 and Luke Evans took two wickets while Josh Murphy finished with 1-20 as well as a couple of excellent catches in the outfield.

St Patrick's are facing a near-identical challenge to last weekend's preliminary final, when they chased down 211 to knock out minor premiers North Albury.

14.10 - WICKET

Oscar Lyons smashes Scammell back over his head for six but is caught and bowled by the Patties coach next ball.

Lavington surging towards a strong total, 4/177 with five overs remaining.

Galvin still there on 55.

14.00 - FIFTY

That's a very well-deserved half-century for Chris Galvin, who gets there with a single off Tendai Chisoro. Galvin and Sam Harris put on 73 for the third wicket and the Panthers are really taking control now at 3/158 in the 43rd over. What have St Patrick's got in response?

13.50 - WICKET

Sam Harris takes Liam Scammell for a big six down the ground but is caught by Ben Jones trying something similar off the very next ball.

13.30

Chris Galvin is purring like a Rolls Royce out there, accessing all parts of the ground with an array of classy shots. It's not hard to see why he comes into the grand final having scored almost 500 runs in provincial cricket this season.

Galvin 37 (58), Harris 12 (10) and Lavington 2/102 after 32 overs.

13.15 - WICKET

A short ball from Luke Evans spells the end for Rhodes, who gets it high on the bat and loops a catch into the hands of Murphy. That brings Sam Harris out to join Galvin and the Panthers are 2/74. Rhodes made a painstaking 26 off 83 balls.

13.05

We've reached the halfway stage of Lavington's innings and the Panthers have moved along to 1/59.

Jordan Rhodes (18) has now faced 74 balls and he's put on 30 with Chris Galvin, who's 15 not out at the other end.

Good control from the St Pat's bowlers, not least Chisoro, who has sent down three maidens.

12.22 - WICKET

Murphy makes the breakthrough! Sharp hits down the ground but he doesn't get all of it and Liam Scammell, at full stretch, gets his fingertips under the ball and takes a great catch.

Sharp's gone for 17 off 43 balls and Lavington 1/29 - the Patties needed that.

12.19

We've just seen our first over of spin and it's a maiden from Tendai Chisoro.

Josh Murphy, the Patties' 16-year-old quick, is now operating from the far end.

Lavington 0/29 (Rhodes 6, Sharp 17).

12.11

Lavington 0/23 after 10 overs. Rhodes has played and missed at a couple but Sharp, who hit the first boundary of the match in that last over, looks rock solid at the other end.

11.50

Five overs gone and Lavington are 0/7. Only two runs off the bat so far, both to Rhodes, with a few wides conceded by the opening pair of Scammell and Luke Evans as they strive for an extra yard of pace. Scammell hit Matt Sharp's pad a moment ago and the Patties all went up but umpire Neil Smith wasn't interested.

11.30

And we're off, Liam Scammell bowling a maiden to Jordan Rhodes.

Talk is that 180-200 may be a par score.

11.05 - THE TOSS

Lavington have won the toss and will bat first.

"The pitch looks brilliant," captain Dave Tassell said.

"There's a bit of grass on it, which is great.

"We just wanted, more than anything, to keep the ball off the dewy outfield for as long as we could so hopefully the dew takes the ball early and nullifies it a little bit so our middle order can get stuck into our bowlers."

Patties captain Dean Nicholson confirmed they, too, would have batted first.

"It looks a really nice surface," Nicholson said.

"There was a fair bit of talk about it during the week but the curator's done a really good job.

"I think there's a fair few runs in it so we'll try to contain them and take some early wickets."

10.45

The big question during the week was what the wicket was going to be like on the No.1 oval here at Lavi but players from both sides have given it the thumbs-up and you'd expect whoever wins the toss to bat first and apply a bit of scoreboard pressure.

There's no rain around, for now, although the forecast suggests we may get a few showers throughout the day.

10.30

Welcome to Lavington Sports Ground and thanks for joining us on grand final day as Cricket Albury-Wodonga's provincial season comes to a climax. St Patrick's and Lavington will be going head-to-head in the A-grade decider, while the Patties are also represented in the B-grade grand final on No.2 oval, where they're taking on Wodonga Raiders.

So, where to start? Perhaps by meeting the players - and who better to introduce them than their captains. Dave Tassell has outed one of his Panthers team-mates as a rather successful wedding singer, while Patties skipper Dean Nicholson will be hoping the victory tunes are provided by this amateur DJ in green.

What a season it's been for Tendai Chisoro since landing as St Patrick's overseas player. The big Zimbabwean was in great form when we caught up with him this week to talk cricket, faith and family.

Lavington's team is packed with grand final experience but Tassell believes it's this young man is ready to explode into form after a lean season with the bat.

Neil Smith has waited a long time, and travelled a long way, for this moment so it was only right we checked in with the popular Scot - if only to give the PE department at Xavier High School some fresh material for their ever-growing shrine in Mr Smith's honour.

You'll find all the build-up inside today's copy of The Border Mail so keep yours handy and make sure this tab stays open as we get ready to bring you all the action from a huge day of cricket.

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