ANOTHER weekend of Victoria Premier Cricket Premier Men’s Firsts has wrapped, with plenty of impressive performances around the competition. In this series, we put the spotlight on one individual performance that may have caught the eye of teammates, opponents and fans alike. With plenty to choose from each week, it is worth mentioning that there will be some unlucky players that miss out on a weekly basis.

This week, that status goes to Richmond bowler Mitchell Perry, who was valiant in the loss to Carlton at Princes Park on Saturday afternoon. After his side batted first and was dismissed for 172 runs, it was evident that the Richmond bowling attack would need to produce something special given the batting power in Carlton’s lineup. Perry stood up and gave his side a fighting chance by claiming wicket after wicket and slowly chipping away at the opposition batting order. He drew plenty of edges and a number of these found their way to Jake Fraser-McGurk in the slips to claim crucial wickets. While his side couldn’t get the job done, Perry was terrific with figures of 5/28 from his 10-over spell with ball in hand.

Rookie Me Central‘s Player of the Week for Round 16 goes to Lachlan Bangs of Prahran, who was by far the standout player of the week with his terrific performance with both bat and ball. The all-rounder was fantastic in steering his side to a win over Kingston Hawthorn, in what was the final outing of the season for both sides.

Kingston Hawthorn produced a strong performance with bat in hand, much to the surprise of their opponents. They managed to get their score to 246, but Bangs was crucial in ensuring it wasn’t any more than this as he claimed a pair of crucial wickets in the innings. Despite this effort, Prahran still had their work cut out for them given the score was so high and they had struggled in this department in the past.

The top of their batting order produced mixed results, and by the time Bangs headed out to the crease, there was a strong chance Prahran were going to finish their season on a low. Luckily, Bangs had other ideas. He was simply outstanding with bat in hand, playing an aggressive innings that saw his and the team’s total rise at a rapid race. There was no hesitation to take the bowler on as he found the boundary on 14 occasions with seven fours and seven sixes.

He pushed his side’s score up in no time, and was the main reason why they were able to emerge victorious in their clash against Kingston Hawthorn. In the end, Bangs finished with 115 runs from just 89 deliveries and was still standing when Prahran notched the winning runs to close out their season in style.