A nail-biter in every sense of the term.
Cardinia’s narrow escape against Kooweerup on the road came down to the absolute wire in round five of the Casey Cardinia Cricket Association (CCCA) Premier Division.
After rain interrupted last week, the game was played in the one-day format.
The Demons came in as the hottest batting team in the competition with opening pair Chris Bright and Luke McMaster providing the bulk of the damage.
The hosts won the toss and elected to take the bat, and thus the league’s most dangerous partnership took to the middle.
However, Trishane De Silva had other ideas.
Bright was caught for just five off the bowling of De Silva, who quickly worked to then snick off McMaster (11) shortly after.
Shiran Rathnayake (7) then hit his stumps while Travis Wheller was bowling, so the spinner claimed the wicket.
Adam McMaster (5) didn’t stick around long after he became De Silva’s third wicket courtesy of a caught and bowled.
At that stage Kooweerup was 4/29, but the bleeding didn’t stop there.
Mitch Davey (2) and Ayden Mills (11) soon fell to leave the Demons at 6/49, before a lifeline partnership between Brannon Harrison and Farhan Hussain added some much-needed scoring.
Harrison then departed for 16, ending a 32-run stand, resulting in another avalanche of wickets.
The hosts were subsequently rolled for 95, with De Silva finishing with figures of 3/27 from his six overs.
Wheller, Lachie Volpe and Yohan Arumadura each took two poles, rounding out a deep performance from the Bulls’ bowling attack.
“Trish, our opening bowler, he bowled amazing,” Cardinia coach Jacobus Hynes said of the bowling performance.
“Quick, on the spot and he put the pressure on them early.
“He got three wickets and they were the most important wickets as well, he got us off to a good start.
“We then had Trav Wheller open with him bowling spin.
“The pace to spin helped us by changing tempo so they couldn’t get settled.
“It was really good bowling to get Wombat and McMaster out early.
“We’ve been bowling awesome, our bowling is incredible at the moment.
“They play the situation really well, if we need to slow it down we’ll play our spinners if we need some pace we’ll use our pacers and the spinners will have a break.
“We have that sort of side where we can chop and change at any time and that’s what you look for in a bowling side.
“We don’t rely on one bowler, we can rely on four or five nearly so that’s the reason we’re bowling so well.”
However, it wasn’t the same story with the bat.
Luke McMaster broke through early to snick off Hynes for a duck in the second over, before Charith Keerthisinghe caught the edge of Morteza Ali (7).
McMaster then ran rampant, claiming the wickets of Jye Shaw-Remy (11), Matt Welsh (0) and Arumadura (0) in the span of three overs.
It seemed a disaster was unfolding for the visitors as Keerthisinghe then bowled Wheller (1), stranding the Bulls at 6/19.
But an outstanding resistance from Volpe and Bradey Welsh got the pace back on track for the batting side, stringing together a 41-run push back before Volpe (28) was bowled by Jess Mathers.
Cardinia was desperate to reach the total, but Welsh (12) was left short and run out to put the Bulls at 8/71.
The nerves became sky-high when De Silva (16) was also run out, still needing eight runs with just one wicket in hand.
But, Grogan (14 not out) and Brady Boswell (4 not out) dug deep to nudge Cardinia home as Grogan hit a match-winning boundary with every Bull at Kooweerup Recreation Reserve breathing a massive sigh of relief.
The visitors squeaked out victory at 9/97.
Luke McMaster posted 4/26 off his eight overs, while Keerthisinghe was tidy with 2/11 from eight overs for the Demons.
“The top order, myself included, didn’t really do that job which is frustrating,” Hynes reflected.
“Sometimes you have those days and they’re a good side so it’s tough to absorb pressure.
“It was good bowling from both sides and there was a lot of pressure in the field.
“Lachie Volpe set the tone by telling us while he was batting that we were going to absorb the pressure, the runs will come later.
“Lachie and Bradey Welsh, Trish and Grogan got us over the line in the end which was awesome.”
Cardinia has now won four games in a row, including an outright victory last week to comfortably sit in second.
The Bulls are gaining confidence by the week and Hynes has been pleased by the progression.
“We’ve been playing really well,” he said.
“After our first round loss we’re more accountable on each other I think, we’re telling the harsh truths that a lot of us needed to hear.
“We’ve gone to another level which is awesome and holds us in good stead.”
