By Blair Burns
Parkmore Pirates are the Dandenong District Cricket Association (DDCA) Turf 2 premiers after they chased a target of 170 with six wickets in hand thanks to a huge partnership which helped them to achieve premiership success.
Due to rain last weekend, the grand final was set across two weekends as the side’s battled it out under the Saturday sun at Thomas Carroll Reserve.
In a bid to strengthen and extend the batting order, Parkmore Pirates’ captain Niranjen Kumar opted to bring Johann Brohier up to face the new ball so that Satheesh Fernandu could slide down the order.
However, Kumar began questioning his plan when the Cobras struck early through Triyan De Silva as he sent Brohier back to the sheds for a golden duck; it was 1-0 and Ammar Bajwa strolled to the crease.
After turning the game on its head the previous week taking the prized wicket of Mackenzie Gardner, before ripping through the rest of the order, Bajwa was full of confidence.
A few overs went by as Bajwa kept most of the strike with the dangerous Kyle Gwynne limited to mainly dot balls as the superb opening spell continued.
Josh Tonna was struggling to rotate the strike and so was Bajwa as the opening bowlers took hold of the game, with the Pirates scoring just seven runs off the 40 balls since Gwynne departed – the scoreboard reading 2-26 off 13 overs.
Something had to give, and it did as Bajwa took on a lofted cover drive and Ethan French dived forward to take a great catch, handing his big fast bowler Ryan Patterson his first wicket.
Hewafonsekage Fonseka was the next man to the crease and his first ball was an accurate representation of his entire innings, as he played and missed off Patterson.
Only a few overs later Fonseka tried to pinch a single off Harry Funnell but a spectacular diving underarm throw from De Silva had caught him short of his ground, gone for 7 off 29 balls and the team had fallen to 4-39.
From here, Tonna produced an innings for the ages as he kept his head and despite the pressure building, Fernandu began to release it from the other end.
The pair complemented each other exceptionally with Tonna scoring some boundaries off his lethal cut shot, while Fernandu put the bowlers over the fence on the leg side.
As they neared closer, the HSD players and fans became quieter and quieter with the hope slowly fading in their supportive cheers.
With only six runs to get, Fernandu advanced down the pitch and smacked Brett Hookey down the ground for the match-winning six, taking his score to 74 not out, while Tonna finished on 65 not out.
After being in a hole at 4-39, the pair’s premiership-winning partnership of 132 saw the Parkmore Pirates bring home their second Turf 2 flag in four seasons, once again getting the better of HSD at the final hurdle.
Bajwa was rewarded for his incredible performance with the ball earning MVP honours with 6-44 off 26.4 overs and also scored 17 with the bat.
In a matter of hours, Parkmore had gone from being in some real trouble to being premiers as they hit the winning runs in the 60th over.
