By Jonty Ralphsmith
A fighting half-century from Upper Beaconsfield (8/191) skipper Will Haines (73 not out) has guided the Maroons to the Casey Cardinia Cricket Association (CCCA) District Division premiership on Sunday.
The game was setup by offie Andrew McDonald, who took seven wickets, bowling in tandem with legendary leggie Scott Pitcher to put the clamps on the Officer innings.
The hosts were kept to 9/190, with Haines hitting the winning runs in the 76th over, his team eight down fittingly with McDonald at the crease.
Officer’s innings got off to a rollicking start as openers Jaswinder Gill and Chathura Imbulagoda both cashed in against the quick bowlers to propel Officer to 2/121.
It provided a launch-pad for the Bullants to bat Upper Beaconsfield out of the game, but the middle-order was unable to find the same tempo as the openers.
First drop Jack James, second drop Ash Smith and third drop Will Carlyle all faced at least 60 balls, but went at strike rates of 31, seven and 11 respectively.
Between the third and fourth wickets, there were seven maidens, including the five overs which immediately preceded the breakthrough, as the fourth-wicket partnership put on just six runs in 70 balls.
The partnership prior was seven off 45 balls and the one following 11 runs off 48 balls.
Then one run off 13 balls.
The slow bowling completely dominated the middle-overs of the game and effectively negated any benefit the Officer lineup looked to gain from the quick start.
With the two spinners bowling in tandem for most of the second phase of the first session on day one, Upper Beaconsfield fit 48 overs in before tea as they controlled the speed of the game.
The outfield was slow and the batters showed little endeavour against the searing accuracy, difficult angles and steep bounce of the tall Maroons tweakers.
Momentum had entirely shifted.
McDonald finished with figures of 7/77 off 37 overs – bowling unchanged up one end from the seventh over – while Pitcher’s 25 overs yielded 1/30.
The collective economy rate of the pair was just 1.49.
Despite going at a run-rate of 3.78 in the first 32 overs, Officer’s final score of 190 put the game in the balance – and all the momentum was with the visitors.
After finding runs easily in the first 10 overs, the Bullants were finally able to change the course of the match for a period by picking up opener Corey Joyce and star batter Imesh Jayasekara in the space of four overs.
First change bowler Devon Gabriel-Brown claimed the wicket of Jayasekara, which was particularly crucial: after averaging 43 with the bat in another splendid season – including two game-winning knocks – he departed without troubling the scorers.
Nick Pastras was sent back soon after, while Josh Westra and Kyle Gibbs fell cheaply as the entire Officer bowling attack had threatening moments to help reduce the visitors to 5/77.
That brought Taylor Joyce to the crease, who did exceptionally well to take the scoring pressure off Haines, whose innings was providing the backbone for the chase.
Each of his four boundaries came after scoring had briefly dried up, with his ability to release the shackles necessarily crucial in keeping Officer from building up serious and sustained pressure.
Joyce scored 27 runs in a partnership of 38 with Haines before Noah Parraga got through his defences.
The experience of Scott Pitcher shone through when he strode to the middle as he scored just 13, but was in the middle for 14 overs, willing to take the game deep knowing the deep batting order his side possessed.
When Cooper Pursell got him with a slower ball, AJ Claxton, who has opened the batting in the seconds this year, played a part in a 27-run partnership, with the team’s constant ability to keep the scoreboard ticking crucial to the result.
Claxton’s dismissal, the eighth wicket, kept Officer in it with the Maroons still 15 runs adrift, but it took just 30 balls for them to get over the line as the coolness of Haines and McDonald finished off the job.
In a battle between last season’s runners-up, and a team which has had a more recent taste of Premier, it was the one with more recent grand final experience which won out.
And they did it in a way which demonstrated a calmness in big moments which highlighted their takeaways from the 78-run loss in 2023-24.
