By Marcus Uhe
Springvale South has qualified for a third-consecutive Dandenong District Cricket Association (DDCA) Turf 1 grand final after thrashing rivals Buckley Ridges in a qualifying final over the weekend in one of its most comprehensive performances of the season.
Cricket finals are no different to finals in other sports in that the cream rises to the top, and for the Bloods, on the verge of making their own history, it was Blade Baxter and Jordan Wyatt that sealed their progression with starring performances on either side of the scorecard.
Baxter, the best player in their previous finals campaign and the reigning Fleming medallist as the player of the 2022/23 grand final, took 5/58 in 23 overs to help roll Buckley for 145, before Wyatt, this season’s Wookey Medal winner, crunched 89 off 74 deliveries to put the exclamation point on an emphatic display.
Winning the toss and choosing to bowl was a masterstroke from stand-in captain Wyatt, as the Bloods cleaned up Buckley Ridges within 64 overs.
In-form opening pair Josh Holden and Jake Cronin, who dominated in the most-recent hit out between the two sides, only added 57 for the opening wicket before Holden became the first of Baxter’s victims for 30.
Three more wickets fell before tea, including the huge scalp of Roshane Silva for a duck, coming off four-consecutive half-centuries.
The tea break came with Buckley at 4/87, having lost 4/30 in the midst of a dual-strangulation effort from Baxter and finger spinner, Jarryd Straker.
The pair bowled in tandem for 41 overs overlapping the interval, keeping their foot on the throat and applying pressure at every turn.
With Paul Hill wicket-keeping up to the stumps and Wyatt swallowing everything that came his way at first slip, Buckley Ridges had nowhere to go.
Rubbing salt into the wound was a flying catch from Jackson Sketcher, leaping to his right and pouching the catch in both hands to remove the dangerous Ishan Jayarathne.
Only Michael Davies’ counter-punching 32 made inroads for the visitors, his innings top-scoring for the Bucks in a disappointing display.
He hit Baxter for multiple sixes down the ground, one into the Alex Nelson Reserve playground and another clattering into the storage shed at the Nature Reserve end as he looked to put pressure back on the Bloods’ attack.
Straker’s 23-over spell eventually came to a close, but you couldn’t keep him out of the contest – his safe hands at the long-on boundary swallowed a lofted drive to remove Davies, and with it, the fight in Buckley Ridges’ batting innings.
Davies fell at 8/145, the final two wickets also falling on that score.
Missing Ryan Quirk, Jordan Mackenzie and Cam Forsyth at the top of the order, Springvale South was forced to deal with a tricky 16-over session at the end of Saturday’s play.
The promoted pair of Liam Hamilton and Brayden Sharp both fell to Hussain Ali, with Wyatt joining Mitch Forsyth in seeing out the remainder of the overs, Springvale South already 36 runs into the chase at the close of play.
Wyatt’s aggressive stroke-play ensured any danger presented by a tricky run chase was rendered null and void, Springvale South cruising to victory before the tea break on Sunday in the 36th over.
With gaps available on the leg-side boundary, Wyatt took the opportunity presented in ruthless fashion.
Buckley’s spin-heavy attack bore the brunt of Wyatt’s attack as the Wookey Medal winner hit Westley Nicholas for multiple sixes over the pavilion at Alex Nelson Reserve in his three-over spell.
As they did in round 12, Forsyth played the calm, steady head and rotated the strike while Wyatt cut loose in 128-run stand that extinguished any danger.
Wyatt fell for 89, within touching distance of the winning runs, Forsyth completing the job in an unbeaten 41 as the home side completed the chase easily.
Ali finished with 2/15 as the only multiple wicket taker for Buckley Ridges, but is under an injury cloud for the preliminary final next week, having injured his ankle while appealing.
For Hill, the successful chase wrapped-up two days of cricket that left minimal room for improvement for his side.
“It was obviously not what we planned for, we did plan on bowling first and then hopefully chasing a score that was gettable, but it went really, really well,” the captain-coach said.
“The bowlers were unreal yesterday and then today couldn’t have gone any better.
“Our attitude and effort in the field yesterday was most pleasing.
“We obviously had a couple of outs during the week which wasn’t ideal.
“Just to go about it yesterday, the spell between Blade and ‘Strakes’ (Straker), that’s won the game of cricket.”
While Baxter and Wyatt will attract the main accolades, the efforts of Straker (2/41) and Forsyth will not go unnoticed, particularly within the four walls at Alex Nelson Reserve.
Straker was targeted by Buckley Ridges when the two sides last faced at Park Oval, the short square boundaries playing perfectly into the hands of Buckley’s aggressive sweepers, but held his own in the return fixture, showing why he’s one of the competition’s best talents.
Forsyth, meanwhile, survived the difficult period before stumps on day one as his less-experienced partners came-and-went, before bringing out the best in Wyatt, and Wyatt the best in him.
“I’m really proud of (Wyatt) but I thought Mitch’s innings was unreal, to go out there last night in a really tricky situation and to end up batting through the whole innings in the chase,” Hill said.
“He won’t get the plaudits like ‘Jordy’ will, only getting (40) not out, but it was just as good.
“(Straker) knows what he’s doing.
“It’s such a hard ground to play as a spinner, you can miss-hit sixes all over the ground at Park (Oval).
“I think he got hit for 10 sixes that day so we knew that that’s not going to happen again for him.”
The prospect of an unprecedented third-consecutive flag has bubbled away in the periphery for the duration of the Bloods’ season, but now stares them square in the face, having booked a spot in the decider at Arch Brown Reserve.
Having used it seldom as a motivating factor throughout the season, the reality is now inescapable, history well-and-truly knocking on the door.
“I think now is the time to, at least, think about it,” Hill said.
“It won’t be something we talk about all week or anything like that but it will probably be spoken about a little bit, just that opportunity that will probably never come around again.
“It’s not something that’s happened in, I don’t know how many years the DDCA has been around for, but it’s a good opportunity, and we’ll take it as an opportunity and something exciting, as opposed to any pressure.”
Mackenzie and Cam Forsyth will be racing the clock to prove their fitness for the grand final after quad and hand injuries, respectively, while Quirk is expected to take his place in the grand final XI, absent from the qualifying final due to a personal commitment.
Buckley Ridges will lick their wounds and regroup before tackling Narre South at home this weekend for a shot at redemption in the grand final.
