By David Nagel
Pakenham captain Dale Tormey could simply do more for a team that was overwhelmed by an opponent with clearly superior depth.
That, in a nutshell, sums up the 2023/24 Casey Cardinia Premier Division grand final between Tooradin and Pakenham.
As things stood on Saturday night, Tormey’s magnificent 117 – just the third grand final century in the last 25 years – was the individual highlight of a grueling day at the office that saw the Lions nudge their way to a ‘just-competitive’ 221.
Tormey entered the fray on the fourth ball of the match, with he and Chris Smith holding the hopes of Pakenham in their hands.
And the stats show why.
Smith (1022 at 92.91) and Tormey (795 at 56.79) ended the season with a combined 1817 runs at 72.68, while their nine teammates on the weekend finished with 1337 at 19.66.
When Smith fell for 14, brilliantly caught by man-of-the-match Cal O’Hare off the bowling of Brad Butler; the onus fell squarely on the shoulders of Tormey.
Amid bursts of brilliance the left-hander played a defiant knock; the stats above clearly in mind as he and Rob Elston (20 off 117 balls) held the dangerous Seagulls at bay.
Tormey hit eight boundaries and four towering sixes in his 226-ball knock, that at least gave his side a chance.
The Seagulls would pass the target easily, winning by eight wickets after Cal O’Hare’s (101 not out) memorable century, and a free-flowing knock from Tormey’s counterpart Mick Sweeney (59 not out off 62) that sealed the deal for the Gulls.
Sweeney played with freedom; knowing class acts such as Russell Lehman, Tom Hussey, Dylan Sutton, Tyler Evans, Butler, Ben Mantel and Ben Parrott were still to come.
It was a luxury not afforded Tormey, who was proud of his team for making it to the final weekend of the season.
“It’s obviously disappointing to not win it, but we gave it our all and someone has to lose on a day like this,” Tormey said.
“It sucks that it’s us, but it was a great effort from the boys to get here.
“I’m super-proud of the effort the boys have put in; I couldn’t be prouder, but full credit to Tooradin, they’ve been the best team all year and they’ve shown that over the last two days.”
Recovering from 0-0 to 1-43, Tormey thought his Lions were back in the premiership hunt.
“My mindset doesn’t change whether I walk in fourth ball, or walk out in the 50th over,” he said.
“I play my game, it stacks up, well I think it does anyway, in most situations, so there was no panic or anything like that.
“I love batting with Chris (Smith), I love watching him bat, he’s one of the best players I’ve ever played with and that includes at a higher standard.
“It was disappointing when he went out, because I thought we were getting on top and we weren’t far away from posting a pretty big score.
“My mindset didn’t change, I wanted to score, but also wanted to bat time, because the longer I bat the more runs I score; which benefits the team.
“Boof (Jason Williams) batted well towards the end, but we just couldn’t get that second score through the middle order.
“To get that extra 50 or 60 runs that we needed, we needed a team effort; and the Tooradin boys showed us how to do that today.
“They fielded really well, they hunted well…full credit to them; they were too good.”
The Lions had one hint of a chance on day two, when Tooradin number-three Peter Sweeney (40) gave a low-percentage chance off the first ball of his innings.
“Cal and Pete batted really well, but if Pete’s first ball sticks; a half chance to Boof (Jason Williams) at mid-on, then all of a sudden they’re two for 20 odd and it’s a completely different ball game,” Tormey said.
“But those two batted really well; they made a 100-run partnership and took the game away from us.
“They were a class above in all three facets of the game, they bat very deep and have a good understanding of what they need to do with the ball.
“They still had quality bowlers that didn’t bowl and quality bats that weren’t required to bat; they’re a ridiculously good team and all credit to them.
“They were the best team this season and thoroughly deserve their success.”
