| Ditchy's Ditherings - B Grade
Grand Final 2008.
The time arrived for us to finish a great season with a win in the Grand Final against West. A team we have had no trouble accounting for in recent matches with two thumping victories including an outright by 8 wickets and a comfortable one day win.
The West line-up looked a strong outfit on paper but had performed below expectations during the season, only to pick it up come finals time and earn a spot in the decider. Our starting 11 looked as good as ever, and a couple of guys were extremely unlucky not to have made it. I was lucky to win the toss when Stewy Whyte called heads and down it came tails up. In what can only be considered controversial in the least, I decided to send West in to bat. Something we had discussed at length prior to the toss and we thought we were good enough to chase any target they could set.
Bones and I opened the attack, saving BC and Macca to tear open the middle order, and Bones must have been jet-lagged when he let one go in his first over that ended up next to Bainy at mid off and hadn’t even passed the bowling crease!!!! We were unlucky not to have both the openers back in the pavilion early when Kelvin managed to squeeze a yorker between his pads and stumps that was very close, and Bucks was cut in two by one from me that was also very close to rattling the castle. Macca and BC were brought in and quickly got results, when BC had Kelvin Ryan caught by Col and we were into them. 1/32. Macca picked up Bucks after Fitzy accepted a chance at point and it was 2/32. BC chimed in again and claimed young Whyte without scoring and West were reeling at 3/35. It was beginning to look like we would continue our dominance over West at this point and when big Harrison was removed by the Jones/Cattell combination, they were lost at sea with only 55 on the board for the loss of 4 wickets. The next partnership was painful, as big hitting Mark Bramley rode his luck, being dropped three times, by Jones at second slip, Bain at Mid-wicket and Cattell behind the stumps, then was clearly run out by about 8-12 inches only to be given not out by the square leg umpire who was busy concentrating on his counter and not looking where he should have been. Bramley was partnered during this time by serial pest, Steve France, who was struggling with the heat and twice managed to deposit the contents of his guts on the hallowed Larapinta deck. It was the guile and cunning of Scotta who removed “the pest”, sneaking one through and dislodging the bails. 5/98. Stuart Whyte was welcomed to the crease and soon departed when Macca pulled off a miraculous catch at gully when Stewy sliced one to him from my bowling. 6/113. Young Schmidt joined Brams and the show began. Bramley entertained the West crowd with some lusty hitting, putting Jones out of the park once or twice and even had the ability to smash a big six off Macca that sailed toward the nets at the southern end of the ground. When Schmidt was stumped by Col off Jones, and I must say he was desperately unlucky to be given out, West had moved to 6/172 thanks to Bramley’s display. Doug France lasted one delivery and Jones found himself on a hat-trick. Josh Johnny was facing the hat-trick ball and must have been nervous as he was staring down the barrel of a third consecutive golden duck, but he steeled himself and survived, but not for long, as BC had him well caught by Ali at widish mid on for 8. 9/182 Lochie McMillan pushed a couple of singles to give Brams the strike and was eventually bowled by BC for 2. West finishing with 199 on the board. Bramley was damaging with 83 not out and we had a chase on our hands.
BC was magnificent with the ball taking 4/36 off 18 overs. A superb effort in the searing heat. Jonesy finished with 3/42 off 11 and took a bit of stick, but hung in there and got the rewards, while Scotta and I picked up one each. Macca was also tireless in his efforts with the cherry, unlucky not to have picked up more wickets but being tight enough to create chances at the other end and finished with 1/47 from his 16 overs. Not too bad in the field but three costly drops and a couple of concentration lapses adding to the West total.
We had 9 overs to survive late on day 1 and Bainy and Youngy took to the task well until Ali was caught by Harrison at second slip, a very sharp chance that would normally hit the deck, during the 5th over and the score only on 4. Snow joined Bainy in the middle and they looked like they would survive until Bainy copped a good one from Josh Johnny that snuck through his defense on the second last ball of the day. 2/15 and Fitzy strolled out to face a single delivery to see out the day. He survived it and we had the job ahead of us on day 2.
Day 2 started in tragic circumstances, Snow bowled neck and crop by the only ball that Lochie swung all day, it just happened to be ball 1 on day 2 and we were 3/15. BC went to the crease and our hopes were high as this bloke has showed plenty of promise with the bat during his short stint at the club. He was looking set when he was run out in controversial circumstances. The keeper accepted a return from Josh Johnny which bounced up out of his gloves and then he removed the bails. The Keeper had his back to the umpire and it was virtually impossible for him to see what transpired and he fired BC out without hesitation. Yet another run out decision to go against us and I was now a little uncomfortable with sending West in to bat first. But with Macca, Fitzy, Col and myself to come, we still held hope that the job could be done. 4/28.
Enter Adrian McAdam. This bloke has performed amazing things in front of some of the biggest crowds in AFL and had delivered the goods on more than one occasion in the ASCA, under pressure. At the other end we have Peter Fitzpatrick. He has looked likely to score big each time he strolls out to the middle but has yet to deliver the performance we all know he has in him. Ball by ball they started to pick apart the West attack, thanks largely to the serial pest dropping Adrian on ZERO!!! Fitzy knocked the ball around for ones and twos while Macca treated anything loose with total disdain. As the great man Richie would say, “he gave them some frightful hammer”.
Adrian passed 50 and the tension was still palpable on the bleachers, with only a third of the job done, while Fitzy was sublime in his role within the partnership. McMillan and Johnny worked tirelessly for their team, but were continually picked off and the target came closer. Big Royce Harrison worked hard but the heat was getting the better of him and Brams also tried his hand at breaking these two blokes, but to no avail. When the rain started, yep, RAIN in Alice where it hasn’t rained in what seems like an age, Vijay called an early tea and delayed the continuation of the game for 30 minutes to allow some drying of the wicket. Macca and Fitzy still looking very comfortable and helped themselves to a drink and a couple of sandwiches, kindly made for the lads by Annie, cheers Annie, much appreciated.
At the restart it wasn’t long before Fitzy passed his fifty to raucous applause. The target loomed near and the crowd was appreciating the display these two had put on, it was a batting masterclass. It must have been shattering for the West team; who just an hour or so earlier, were quite chipper about the enviable position they found themselves in with us at 4/28, and had no hesitation in letting them know out in the middle.
When Adrian reached triple figures it was a standing ovation from the crowd and a double fisted salute from the man himself, but surprisingly little from the battered and beaten 2nd eleven from the Gillen club. It was this time that the chase was over and we had one hand firmly on the shield. We let them continue without this knowledge and they have told me that they thought they were close, but on they went till Vijay called drinks. The score; 4/230. I strolled out to speak to Stewy Whyte and he asked if we had passed the score then he was happy to call it off. I replied that Fitzy was the man to make the call as he was staring at his maiden ton for the club and ought to be given the chance to go on. To his credit, Fitzy was happy to call it a day and with that we realized exactly what we had set out to do, win the B grade flag.
I cannot say enough about the innings played by both Adrian (121not out) and Fitzy (76not out), which yielded 202 runs. It was awesome, thrilling and spectacular all at once. Something I was very pleased to have witnessed and ecstatic that it bought home another premiership for the mighty Memo Rovers Cricket Club.
The C grade were unlucky in their massive chase, (read below) and the junior teams just weren’t able to finish off in their matches.
The one we all wanted was the A grade. And as you will no doubt read above at some point should Rory ever do the report, was another great result for the club.
So 2 from six this year and a VERY bright future for Memo Rovers CC. Stick together lads and lets see what can be achieved in the years ahead.
Thanks for reading this year and to all that played a part in the 2’s during the year, I thank you all for your efforts.
Ditchy. |
