Bloods go back-to-back

By Marcus Uhe

Springvale South are premiers of DDCA Turf 1 for the second-consecutive season after defeating rivals Buckley Ridges by six wickets in Saturday’s grand final at Arch Brown Reserve.

The bowling group, led by Blade Baxter and Jarryd Straker, kept Buckley to 147, before Baxter and Cam Forysth added 60 for the final wicket to complete the chase in the 37th over.

Hot and windy conditions confronted both sides on Saturday morning, with Buckley captain Ben Wright choosing to bat first as the temperature quickly reached the mid-30s.

Yoshan Kumara got his side off to an excellent start with the ball, removing Daniel Watson in the second over LBW for just one.

Much like in the semi-final contest between these two combatants, it was Jake Cronin and Jayson Hobbs who mounted a charge for the Bucks.

Cronin, who has taken to Turf 1 cricket with aplomb late in the campaign, looked to up the tempo, hitting Kumara for two boundaries with lofted off drives in the sixth over and clipping balls straying to his leg side exquisitely off his pads.

A wayward over from Matt Wetering allowed Hobbs to find his feet as he makes his return from injury, hitting three boundaries with some lofted on-drives as the two looked to settle-in for a long stint in the middle.

But as he has time and time again for the Bloods, it was Jarryd Straker who provided the crucial breakthrough that set things in motion for his side.

Cronin was stumped by Paul Hill on 42, off Straker’s bowling, and soon after, Hobbs departed for 35, as Jackson Sketcher combined with Straker to put the clamps on in the middle overs.

1/82 with two set batters at the wicket had become 3/98 with two players starting their innings in a short period of time, as the experienced pair of Mahela Udawatte and Ben Wright looked to restart the innings.

Their 27-run stand was brought to a close by a superb Mitch Forsyth catch on the square leg boundary, running to his right and taking the ball over his head in front of Buckley Ridges supporters off a well-struck slog sweep from Wright.

The batting innings never recovered, with the final seven wickets falling for just 22 as Buckley limped to 147.

Straker (3/34) and Baxter (3/26) did the major damage for the Bloods, with Sketcher chipping-in with two of his own.

Jordan Mackenzie and Mitch Forysth made a composed start to the chase, happy to get their eyes-in and see off the new ball.

Forsyth fell victim to an incredible catch from Troy Aust, diving to his left down the leg side to grasp the ball one-handed off Jayaratne, and it was nearly two in two balls, with Jordan Wyatt dropped at slip by Matthew Goodwright off his first delivery.

Goodwright looked to make-amends by snaring another one-handed catch to remove Wyatt, but the nonchalant celebration suggested that he knew the damage had been done.

Mackenzie was stumped on 41 by a superb piece of work from Aust, standing-up to the stumps for Jayaratne and removing the bails while off-balance having reached to the leg side, and when Sketcher’s brief innings came to a close on 10, things were beginning to look a touch shaky for the defending premiers.

But with their deep batting line-up and a small total to chase, the calm heads of Baxter and Forsyth ensured there was never any danger, with a Forsyth sweep into the boundary enough to send his teammates and supporters in the W.J Williamson pavilion into raptures.