Above: Doveton star Brad Downe is congratulated by Alan Wookey after his come-from-behind win in the award named after him on Monday night.By Marc McGowan
DOVETON all-rounder Brad Downe is the toast of the Dandenong District Cricket Association (DDCA) after winning the Alan Wookey Medal at the Dandenong Club on Monday night.
In the most thrilling Wookey Medal count in years, Downe, 29, pipped Berwick veteran and prolific run-scorer Gavan Wills by a single vote.
Wills’ English teammate and raging favourite Alex Roberts finished third after failing to poll in the final two rounds.
Downe, who is also well known for his football talents for the Doves, has always fared well in the Wookey, but took his game to another level this season, opening 2007-08 up with his second DDCA century.
He smashed a career-best 510 runs at the top of the order at an average of 46.36, while his medium-pace bowling snared 10 wickets at 21.8.
Roberts headed all players after round 10 before 1989-90 winner Wills accumulated four votes from the umpires in Berwick’s last match to hit the front.
But Downe, known as ‘Rowdy’ for his quiet demeanour, polled the maximum six votes in the Doves’ round-11 clash with Dandenong West to triumph.
Downe’s victory was sealed with a typically dogged performance that led his side to success over the Bulls in a match that could have seen Doveton relegated to Turf Two.
“I thought I’d poll pretty well, but not enough to win it though,” he said.
“I’m pretty proud. I’ve been close a couple of times, so it’s good to win it.”
Despite facing relegation on Saturday, Doveton ended up in seventh place – only six points from the top four.
Downe, who handed the captain-coach reins to newcomer Glen Lothian this season, believes his side definitely made progress this summer.
“We just needed new people into the club and we needed to do it (give someone else the captain-coach role) – there was nothing else to it,” he said.
“Like every other club, we had games we could have won that got washed out; it was that sort of a season.”
