By Marcus Uhe
Dandenong District Cricket Association (DDCA) heavyweights Springvale South added more silverware to its trophy cabinet at Alex Nelson Reserve after securing the DDCA’s T20 competition on Sunday.
After defeating North Dandenong by six wickets in a semi-final earlier in the day at Wilson Oval, the Bloods then turned their attention to Turf 2 side, Heinz Southern Districts (HSD) in the decider, keeping the Cobras to 6/140 in pursuit of 179.
Fittingly, it was Brett Forsyth that led the charge for the Bloods, with scores of 65 in the semi-final and 87 on a ground that he knows better than most, in Shepley Oval.
Here’s how the day played out.
SEMI-FINAL: ST MARY’S 121 (20) def by HSD 1/122 (15.2)
Erratic batting from one side and excellent bowling from the other, not overawed by the challenge of tackling a Turf 1 team, saw HSD easily account for St Mary’s in the first of the semi-finals on Shepley Oval.
HSD made the bold decision to field first after winning the toss, putting the pressure back on an all-or-nothing St Mary’s side, and Saveen Nanayyakara, the tournament’s form player.
The decision proved a masterstroke from Cobras skipper Mackenzie Gardner as his bowlers ran through the St Mary’s’ top order.
Nanayyakara made just 16 but was the leading run-scorer in his side’s top five, as the Saints slumped to 6/61 at the innings’ halfway point.
The Cobras never took the foot off the gas, with regular wickets keeping the run rate down after an early peak of eight.
HSD used just the five bowlers with each performing their role of bowling tight and taking wickets.
Marquee Jonathan D’Rozario bowled first change and lived up to his high-profile billing with his tidy leg spin, as did Liam Jansen and Jackson Philpin, who both proved effective with taking the pace off the ball.
Deeshan Umagiliyage and Chameera Fernando’s 34-run stand for the seventh wicket saved St Mary’s blushes and helped post a score that would require a steady chase, and crucially helped them to face the entire 20 overs, with Blake Misson the last man dismissed on the innings’ final ball.
D’Rorazio (2/25) and Jansen (2/20) were the leading wicket takers for HSD in an excellent showing from the bowling unit.
Navoda Hettiarachchi top scored for the Saints with 31.
Gardner and D’Rozario made light work of the chase, reaching the target in the 16th over.
After Brent Patterson fell early, the captain and the marquee shared in a 96-run partnership to book their place in the decider.
Gardner finished unbeaten of 61 and D’Rozario on 46.
Saints’ captain Susantha Pradeep was the sole wicket taker for his side, having got through Brent Patterson’s defences.
SEMI-FINAL: NORTH DANDENONG 8/146 (20) def by SPRINGVALE SOUTH 4/148 (18.2)
North Dandenong found itself in trouble early against Springvale South, slumping to 4/18 in the fourth over after losing four wickets in eight balls.
Jarryd Straker and Josh Dowling did the damage for the Bloods with two wickets each, removing the dangerous Jawid Khan for just two and Imran Laghmani for a second-ball duck.
It was left to Clayton McCartney and Tahsinullah Sultani to pick up the pieces, the two adding a much-needed 62 for the Maroons to get the innings back on track.
Springvale South bowlers allowed very little to be hit square to avoid the short boundaries of Wilson Oval coming into play, forcing the Maroons to hit straight and work ones and twos in the gaps.
Sultani was happy to take the risk, hitting some long balls to close the first half of the innings at 4/67.
The Bloods were ringing the bowling changes after an unusually long period without a wicket in the middle overs, keeping the North Dandenong batters on their toes.
It would be Jordan Mackenzie’s off spin that made the breakthrough, Sultani holing-out to Baxter on the leg side boundary for 31 in the 13th over to bring the vital partnership to its demise.
Mackenzie then showed his fielding prowess with a direct hit from point to run out Zarak Aseel for a duck.
McCartney departed shortly after, Baxter getting through his defences for an excellent 45 that ensured his bowlers had a target to defend, after adding 41 with Sushant Gupta.
Gupta continued to hit out in the final overs, including two huge sizes into the Shepley Oval cricket nets in the final over from Dowling, as the Maroons reached a competitive 8/146, a terrific result given the horror start.
North Dandenong needed to take every opportunity to make life difficult for Springvale South but the first over could hardly have gone worse.
Jordan Wyatt crunched a four and a six before taking a single off the innings’ final ball, but poor fielding resulted in four overthrows, making for an 18-run over.
Khan made the breakthrough by removing Wyatt in the fourth over after building dot-ball pressure, as North Dandenong worked its way back into the contest.
Boundaries weren’t coming frequently for the Bloods, but with Brett Forsyth at the crease and only needing seven runs per over, there was little doubt that they would reach the target.
An unwell Ryan Quirk could only manage four, and Yoshan Kumara three, but contributions from Mackenzie and Blade Baxter gave Forsyth all the assistance he needed.
Some lusty blows from Baxter finished the job in the 19th over, the final ball hit into the creek on the leg side.
Forsyth finished unbeaten of 65, with Baxter the next-highest score on 26.
Khan and Gupta each took 4/28 from their respective four overs for the Maroons.
GRAND FINAL: SPRINGVALE SOUTH 4/178 (20) def HSD 6/140 (20)
HSD’s decision to bowl first again did not come with the success that saw it claim the semi-final in the face of two of the competition’s premier batting talents.
Forsyth and Wyatt added 143 for the first wicket that set the innings up for the Bloods, in a partnership that put the contest squarely in the Turf 1 side’s hands.
Wyatt played the aggressor while Forsyth showcased his familiarity with Shepley Oval as one of Dandenong’s greatest ever batters, working singles and twos to the long straight boundaries while adding the occasional boundary.
HSD turned to D’Rozario in the fifth over to bowl to fellow Premier Cricketer Forsyth, but Forysth welcomed him to the crease with three boundaries that put the Cobras’ import on the back foot.
Forsyth was dropped by Jansen on 29, and shortly after Wyatt was the beneficiary of a missed stumping on 38 from Gardner.
The two reached the 100-run partnership in the 12 over, with both batters raising the bat for half-centuries in the coming overs.
Having cleared the milestone, Wyatt looked to up the ante, his intent signalled by advancing down the wicket to the speed of De Silva to hit him for six.
HSD went back to D’Rorazio but Forsyth was up to the challenge, slog-sweeping him to the grandstand side for six and out of the attack once more.
Wyatt was dropped again on the boundary on 62, the ball landing on the other side of the cones for six as a result.
There was no mistaking the next delivery, a flat six to cow corner to rub salt into Cobra wounds.
He eventually fell in the 16th over attempting a switch-hit, his man-of-the-match innings reaching 78 off just 49 balls.
Forsyth picked up the slack as his partners came and went at the other end, dismissed on the second-last ball of the innings for 87 off 60, departing the playing surface with a bow to the vocal HSD supporters in the Frank Storan Grandstand.
Leg-spinner Omair Rana was the pick of the HSD bowlers with 1/13 off his three, with the unused fourth over looking like a missed opportunity in hindsight, while D’Rozario went wicketless in his three overs, conceding 32.
HSD opening pair Mackenzie Gardner and Brent Patterson made an impressive start to the chase in a 74-run opening stand.
The heat of the afternoon and the fatigue of a second game in one day appeared to hamper Patterson early in the innings and he began to cramp.
The two managed to find sporadic boundaries in the face of an experienced and dangerous bowling attack, to the delight of a strident HSD supporter base watching on.
The pair weren’t giving Springvale South any chances but needed to up the run rate if they were any chance of causing a major boilover.
Jackson Sketcher provided the breakthrough in the 10th over, Brent Patterson skying a ball to the square leg boundary before it fell into the awaiting hands of Liam Hamilton in front of the HSD dugout.
The Bloods went back to Jarryd Straker in the next over, the short square boundary proving too tempting for Triyan De Silva as Hamilton repeated the dose in the field.
When Gardner fell to Mackenzie’s part-time spin, it was three wickets in three overs for Springvale South, which had completely seized the momentum.
Richmond’s D’Rozario showed the strokeplay and class you would expect from a Victorian Premier Cricketer as he took the fight to a handful of the Bloods’ attack, but he lacked contributions from the remainder of his side.
When he departed for 32 after skying a catch to Wyatt off Dowling in the 17th over after hitting him for six earlier in the over, the contest was as good as finished.
Dowling finished as the only multiple wicket taker for the champions with 2/27 as the Cobras eventually fell 39 runs short of the total.
Spin bowlers Mackenzie (1/12) and Straker (1/15) played crucial roles in building dot ball pressure in the middle of the innings.
Patterson top scored for HSD with 36, Garner not far behind on 35.
Despite not claiming the title, HSD walk away with their heads held high, having thrashed one Turf 1 side and pushed another in a valiant defeat.
