The day started with the second placed under 12s White team playing their semi-final at Gainsborough Oval against third placed Shellharbour.

Kiama batted first and got away to a good start before Blake Mackrell was bowled for a well compiled 28 off 26 balls. This left Kade Ovenden to consolidate the innings until he had to retire on 19 for his allowed 35 balls and some aggressive hitting by Lachlan Martin and Josh Kennedy saw the total climb to 4 for 119 after the maximum 30 overs.

Shellharbour were always behind the Kiama run rate and needed seven runs to win off the last over when Kade Ovenden came back into the attack. He started badly with a no ball off the first ball, but regained his composure with only singles off the next few balls.

This left Shellharbour to score 4 off the last ball for victory but Toby Trudget kept a cool head to execute a run out on the second run. The victory celebrations were put on hold as the umpire made Kiama bowl the extra ball from the no ball at the start of the over. This left 3 to win off the extra ball, but the great coaching by Gary Hooper and Gary Trudget paid off as Toby again kept his cool to make another run out to seal the win.

Kiama White was into the final with a 4 for 119 victory over Shellharbour, 7 for 118.

Meanwhile, under 11 Blue was playing Oak Flats Gold at Bonaira Reserve. This was a convincing win by Kiama 5 for 145 to 92, with the best batsmen being Charles Edwards, Joe Burgess, Liam Campbell and Ben Fredericks who all made double figures.

In the Oak Flats innings, Ben and Charles each took 2 wickets and were well supported by Liam, Patrick Campbell and William Campbell who each took a wicket.

While music played in the streets and parks of Kiama, under 11 White 5 for 149 defeated Kookas Blue 87 at Jock Brown Oval. Captain Alex Fuller lead the team well, while the stars for Kiama with the bat were Harry Clarke, Shaun Smith and Harrison Burton and the best bowlers were Harrison and Oliver Allport who both took multiple wickets while Christian McCorkell, Harry, Aiden Gibson, Joel Horley, Shaun and Archie Hollands each took a wicket.

Next week the under 11s finish their season with Kiama Gold assured of winning Division B, Kiama Blue in Second place and Kiama White ready to take over third place to get a Trifecta for the youngest Cavaliers.

So as the tradition of the Kiama Jazz and Blues Festival continued down town another Kiama tradition was underway, Kiama Cavaliers third side camped under the only remaining tree at Bonaira Reserve ready to do battle with Lake Illawarra.

Captain Alan Stafford won the toss and had no hesitation in sending the strong Lake side into bat, who found the Bonaira outfield very unrewarding to shots along the ground. Lake were restricted to 6 for 181 off their 50 overs due to the tight bowling from young Matt Laughton and the evergreen Mick Sharman who both took two wickets.

The Kiama started badly losing early wickets to be 3 for 8 before Bryce Koop joined Adam Mackrell to entertain the crowd. Bryce hit a lusty 25 which included 20 off one over and along with Mick Sharman’s quick 37 allowed Kiama to lift the run rate and leave them only to score 3 runs an over for victory.

After Mick’s dismissal Adam was joined by elder son Liam to steer the boys to victory, but when Adam was dismissed for 54 and Ben Mulcahy for 17 it meant the traditional celebrations under the tree would have to wait. Liam was joined by fellow under 14 representative opener, Cooper Harrison and the youngsters showed the skill and maturity that will be the backbone of Cavalier teams of the future.

One off drive by Liam for six off a former first grader impressed all at the ground and reminded the writer of watching Cavalier greats Mitchell Gowland and Will Sheridan playing at the same ground as teenagers some 16 years ago.

Kiama reached Lake’s total in the second last over and so took over Lake’s second position and will host them back at Bonaira in the semi-final next week. The team has now defeated first and second placed teams in consecutive weeks and have the momentum as they strive to defend their title.

Meanwhile, second grade minor premiers were doing battle with Oak Flats. Kiama scored a respectable total of 254 with the main contributors being Captain Ben Jones leading from the front with 43, up and coming star Hugo “The Boss” Ikeda 31 and late hitting from a back to form Luke Day 40 and 52 from Glenn Cleary proving he can bat as well as bowl.

Oak Flats only managed 59 against a Kiama attack that is getting more lethal every week and is well supported in the field especially by unsung wicket keeper Matt Brockman who snared 4 catches. The main wicket takers were Hugo Ikdea with 4 and Glenn Cleary with 3, while Luke Day, Dan Reilly and Nathan Barr contributed with one each.

This win gives the boys plenty of confidence to take into their semi-final at Cavalier Park next Saturday against Shellharbour who they defeated easily last week.

So if you have nothing better to do, come along next Saturday to either Cavalier Park or Bonaira Reserve to support the Cavs as they strive for a historic quinella.