By Jonty Ralphsmith
Cranbourne all-rounder Peter Sweeney has capped his stellar season with a second consecutive Gartside Medal as the best player in DDCA Turf 2.
Sweeney finished the season with 366 runs at 41 and 34 wickets at 10.
He claimed at least one wicket in every game – bowling a handful of overs upfront to put pressure on opposition run-scoring – before returning and controlling the middle overs each game.
With the bat, he made a contribution in most games, but was disappointed that he got starts but couldn’t go big, finishing with two half-centuries, coming off a season with five half-centuries and one century.
“When you get a start, you want to go on with it and have an impact – getting out for 15-20, I never felt like I got going.
“Through that middle period I felt like it was starting to come good again but then yesterday I couldn’t get going,” Sweeney said.
Undoubtedly the highlight of his season with the blade was an unbeaten 97 against Parkfield, combining with brother Mick for a 199-run stand against Parkfield which triggered a purple patch for the Eagles skipper.
“It’s special to bat with Mick for a good period – we always seem never to be batting at the same time,” he said.
“One would get out and one would follow so it was special to bat with him for a long time and it’s a good memory to have coming to the back end of both our careers.”
Sweeney finished 13 votes clear of second-placed Tyler Clark and 16 ahead of third-placed Mark Cooper, both of whom would have finished much closer if they played in separate teams.
Ryan Hendy finished fourth, despite missing the first third of the season, and Yohan Arumadara was rewarded for a series of big-hitting knocks, finishing fifth.
Nuwan Kulasekara won the inaugural Turf 3 medal after monopolising the competition for Dandenong West.
The former Sri Lankan international finished with 375 runs at 42 as a middle-order batter for Dandy West and 30 wickets.
He did it game after game with the ball, but the highlight would undoubtedly have been when he made a mess of Silverton, taking 5/3 in his opening five over spell to have them 6-15.
With the bat, he rescued Dandy West, chasing 214 against Coomoora in round one, scoring 42 off 35 in a well-structured innings to stamp his all-rounder status in the league.
Two weeks later he came in with the score at 3/32 and helped himself to a century off 64 balls to change the course of the game.
Kulasekara was only briefly at the awards ceremony, rushing back to a Dandenong West club function.
His skipper Anthony Brannan has highlighted Kulasekara’s commitment off-field throughout the season, attributing the growth of Nathan Power and Diacono to Kulasekara’s presence.
“It’s a resource that’s not available to different clubs in the competition so we’re lucky in that regard and I know the boys have a lot of respect for him,” Brannan said.
“The way he goes about teaching them, they listen to him intently and try to get as much from him as they possibly can.
“Him and (fellow international) Malinga (Bandara) are great to have in the side, they understand the flow of the game.
“Both of those boys are good at calming things down and talking about where the game is heading and where we should be heading in tricky situations.
“He also brings a positive attitude, he’s a wonderful fella and he’s so giving of his time.
“He just brings the club together and when he came back on Sunday afternoon, everyone wanted to get around him and talk to him, but he just wanted to be with everyone.”
Springvale pair Nuwan Mendis and Pasindu Madushan and Fountain Gate’s Hasindu Waduge and Coomoora opener Rahoul Pannkhania rounded out the top five.
