South West skipper Simon Harkness crafts classy century in narrow Melbourne Country Week loss against Bellarine

The Heytesbury Rebels star compiled an unbeaten 112 from 161 balls, batting through the innings as South West fell seven runs short of a brilliant win at the Geelong Cricket Ground.

At one stage South West were 5-125 needing well in excess of a run-a-ball to chase down Bellarine's 259 to win before hitting the accelerator and finding the boundaries.

The match came down to the final over with 19 needed for victory but South West were held to 7-251 with a late cameo from Paul Vogels (32 not out off 18 balls) providing a late scare.

Earlier in the day, Angus Uwland and Gus Bourke combined for six wickets with the ball.

A proud Harkness, who hit 14 fours and two sixes in his sublime knock, told The Standard it was an odd feeling walking off the ground with runs next to name but without the points.

"It's a mixed emotion, that's for sure, you're pumped to make runs but ultimately it doesn't feel good to fall short," he said after the match

"I'm really proud of our efforts, in years gone by for South West it wouldn't have been unusual to see us get rolled for 150-odd. The way we fought it out and gave ourselves a chance was outstanding."

The South West leader said the group took plenty of lessons out of the clash moving forward for the rest of the week.

"If we were a bit tidier in the field and with the ball we could have come away with the win but we learn a bit today," he said.

"The dukes come off the bat hard and we probably hunted the ball a bit (in the field).

"(With the bat) it was about trying to get little partnerships going - it's so fast at Geelong so if you play smart cricket you can make runs. People watch a lot of cricket on telly and you start thinking, 'we can score really quickly', so I thought we were in it. It was never out of reach so we're really proud."

South West will be hoping to win its first game on Tuesday when it plays Wangaratta at Grant Reserve in Altona.

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