By Glen Atwell and Marc McGowan
SPRINGVALE South won its seventh Dandenong District Cricket Association (DDCA) Turf One flag after defeating Berwick by nine runs in an epic grand final on the weekend.
The Bloods (127 and 159) emerged victorious after surviving an early evening surge from Berwick (90 and 9/187) as twilight descended on Wachter Reserve.
Low scores and tight bowling were again the norm as the pressure of playing finals reached an enthralling and dramatic climax.
Springvale South elected to bat on what appeared a run-friendly wicket, but in an instant the Bloods were reduced to 3/13.
Rory Ingram (1), captain Craig Slocombe (5) and Lance MacDougall (1) were early victims of the Berwick attack and when Andrew Sharp (3) became Simon Cornell’s third wicket, the score was 4/22 and the outlook grim.
Danny Law and Jason Quirk batted patiently to build the score, but wickets soon began falling in quick succession.
With Springvale South at 9/69, Berwick had victory in sight, but a 56-run final wicket partnership by Bobby Gray (38) and Peter Ryan (23 not out) kept their team in the game.
Berwick was in the box seat at 3/43 and seemed assured of a comfortable first innings lead before Bobby Gray snared 6/21 from 12.4 overs.
Gray’s wickets included the prized scalp of Ash Henry (0), Ryan Crawford (0) and Rohan Nancarrow (0) and Berwick crumbled to be all out for 90.
Springvale South had secured first innings points, was 37 runs clear and the grand final had been turned on its head.
Wielding the willow for the second time, Springvale South again struggled to gain any real momentum against the Berwick attack.
Paceman Simon Cornell continued to prove a thorn in the Bloods’ side and finished the game with 6/38.
Openers Ingram (7) and Slocombe (12) failed again, but a glorious half-century to Law (51), combined with 18 runs from MacDougall, added 65 for the third wicket.
Henry (3/70) managed to ease the flow of runs, and, along with Jarryd Goodes (2/13), tied down the Springvale South batsmen long enough to turn false shots into much-needed wickets.
Ryan added an unbeaten 23 runs before the tail collapsed with three ducks to end the second innings on 159.
Berwick needed 197 from 29 overs to capture the Turf One crown.
Openers Alecs Roberts and Dave Hampton attacked relentlessly, smashing 33 runs from the first three overs before Roberts was clean-bowled by a Gavin Fewkes inswinger for 12.
Fewkes struck another three times, removing Hampton for 34, Nancarrow (3) and Jarrod Goodes (4).
Henry batted superbly for 75, but Gray (9/73 for the match) was again on target and removed another three batsmen in the second innings.
When he dismissed Simon Carr (11) and the scoreboard read 7/119, Berwick’s hopes had quickly faded.
Henry and Cornell, however, pushed singles and slowly edged toward the required total and, as darkness descended, Berwick needed 15 runs from the final over.
Henry hit a single from Law’s first ball and an overthrow allowed the batsmen to scamper through for a second run.
Needing 13 runs from five balls, Henry then attempted to blast a boundary through mid-wicket but the full-pitch delivery swung past his bat and cannoned into the stumps.
Brendan Lloyd was the last batsman in, but he and Cornell could manage only singles from the final four balls.
Law had bowled the perfect final over and Springvale South was declared champion.
Gray was named the Damien Fleming Medallist for his 9/73 with the ball and 38 runs with the bat.
@BT Sub Sport News:TURF TWO
HALLAM Kalora Park will have to endure another season in Turf Two after failing by 24 runs in the promotion battle against Coomoora at Alex Nelson Reserve on the weekend.
Coomoora stepped out to bat first and lost two early wickets, but with opener Andrew King (89) and Brad Barlow (22) combining well moved to 2/77.
Another two quick wickets fell, but Coomoora continued to power on with solid contributions through the middle order.
The innings really kicked into gear once all-rounder Rizan Mowzoon (50) walked to the crease and cracked his third half-century of the season to guide his side to 262.
Mark Houeix (0/28) was unable to reproduce his heroics from the previous week for Hallam Kalora Park, but Lee Brown (4/67), captain Cory Booth (3/42) and Andrew Lee (3/49) stepped up to the plate.
With the grand final pressure at fever point, Coomoora was in charge with a strong total on the board.
However, Hallam Kalora Park has been strong with the bat all season long and made an ominous start in progressing to 0/47.
Despite losing all-rounder Steven Chapman for 23, any chance of losing momentum was short-lived with Booth’s (49) entrance.
He set about maintaining his side’s excellent start and saw it to 2/110 with Andre Peters (25) joining Chapman in the pavilion along the way.
Hallam Kalora Park moved steadily along to 5/217 and looked to have grabbed the ascendancy.
Gary Davidson bashed an important 46, but with he and Nick Cox (23) cruising along the match-defining incident occurred with the loss of Cox to spinner Jason Bacic (1/4).
That left Hallam Kalora Park 6/217 and exposed the tail, which proved not to be up to the task.
Lee (7) was the only one of the final four batsmen to score as Hallam Kalora Park was all out for 238.
Booth was understandably shattered as he pondered another season below the top flight.
“It’s always tough no matter how you lose, but probably because it’s our 100th year next year and we won’t be in Turf One will be pretty hard for the older players down at the club,” he said.
“It was the one goal we had all year and we didn’t get it.
“To lose like that is a bit hard to take, but they were the best throughout the year.”
Booth believes the occasion got to his side and that was reflected in the batting.
“Our batting wasn’t as solid as what it normally is,” he said. “The pressure got to us a little bit and we seemed to lose wickets when we thought we were getting on top.”
Coomoora’s ascension to Turf One was three years in the making after the team finished runner-up in the past two seasons, and it thoroughly deserved its promotion.
