Springvale South has flexed its muscles and done it again.
The Bloods made it 3-0 against Buckley Ridges this season and booked a spot in the Dandenong District Cricket Association (DDCA) Turf 1 grand final with an 87-run victory.
Captain Cam Forsyth said the group was excited to have a ticket to the grand final and praised his team’s bowling efforts on Sunday.
“It is a great achievement in itself to play in the biggest game of the year, so the boys were really happy after the game, there was plenty of celebrations,” he said.
“All of our bowlers played their roles, bowled tight and bowled to a plan – it was a complete team performance with the ball.
“I think we bowled the right bowlers to the right batters and the right times, and it really worked well for us on Sunday.”
Springvale South won the toss and chose to bat first at Dandenong Park Oval on Saturday, with formidable opening duo Mitch Forsyth and Ryan Quirk getting the innings started nicely.
The pair added 90 runs for the first wicket before Forsyth (35) was caught by wicketkeeper Troy Aust, edging as he tried to take Ishan Jayarathna down the ground.
Skipper Cam Forsyth stood up against the Bucks last time, and he did so again, building another strong partnership to put the Bloods in a great position.
Springy was 1/168 at tea and in a brilliant position to launch and score a huge total.
“We were well ahead of the game at that point and it was really good; Mitch and Ryan did a great job at the top and I was happy to be able to contribute too,” Forsyth said.
Quirk (91) was the next wicket to fall when Harry Snowden snuck one through him to rattle the pegs in the 45th over, the score at 2/185 – but the damage had been done by the classy opener.
Jordan Wyatt walked out to join his skipper, he marked centre and faced up, only to meet the same fate as Quirk.
Wyatt was gone for a golden duck and big Snowden was off and celebrating, suddenly on a hat-trick.
Dasun Opanayaka, the most recent player to win the Wookey Medal, joined Forsyth at the crease and looked set for another big score after crunching a couple of fours through the covers.
But Snowden delivered again to carrying his team back into the contest, as he pitched the ball up and Opanayaka played around it, bowled for 11 – the Bloods had lost 3/12.
But never fear, Blade Baxter is here.
The gritty all-rounder got set at the crease and showed how valuable he is to the side, spending some time in the middle.
Forsyth went for a well-made 60, but from there, wickets continued to tumble around Baxter.
Ranel Seneviratne (duck), Nick Boland (2) and Josh Dowling (4) all faltered, with the exception of Christopher Diston (25), before Baxter (46) was the final wicket to fall.
Springvale South was all out for 294 and thanks to Snowden’s incredible spell of 6/58 off 18.3 overs, Buckley Ridges had managed to take 9/109 and restrict the Bloods after a hot start.
“It would’ve been good to get a few more runs but we scraped together 300 thanks to Blade, which was a really competitive total in a final,” Forsyth said.
“I thought we were maybe slightly ahead of the game but still had a bit of work to do.”
On Sunday, after scores of 0 and 16 against Springy this year, star opening batter Dale Tormey was determined to go big for the Bucks.
The reigning premiers had the momentum on their side.
“Snowden bowled three of our best batters in the space of a few overs and turned the game from their perspective, so that was pretty special to watch from the other end even though it wasn’t what we wanted,” Forsyth said.
“We reflected overnight and were a little disappointed we didn’t get more runs, but knew we had the depth with the ball.”
Despite the side scoring seven runs off the first over, Opanayaka struck Ayush Patel (2) on the pads and trapped him LBW again, in what was a replay of the dismissal just a few weeks ago.
Troy Aust was the incoming batter and he took a very patient approach, while Tormey began finding the boundary rope at the other end.
The match-up between Tormey and Opanayaka was a good one for Springvale South once again, and it was a short ball caught on the fence by Boland which spelt the end for Tormey, gone for 24.
Then it was time for Baxter to get involved, he took the next two wickets, removing Aust and captain Jayson Hobbs (both 9) before the 25-over mark, the Bucks were in trouble at 4/69.
Roshane Silva came out and batted beautifully and made it look like a different game to the rest of his teammates, pushing to 90 not out before he was left stranded.
Silva watched seven partners fall at the other end, with only Triyan De Silva (22) and Ashen Hettinayaka (13) managing to reach double figures.
Silva must’ve been sitting in the rooms after the loss wondering what more he can do against the Bloods, with recent scores of 151 and 90* not enough to get the win on both occasions.
The Bucks were bowled out for 207 in 66.1 overs and now find themselves in a preliminary final against Berwick.
Jarryd Straker spun a web to claim 3/32 off 15 overs and take his season wicket tally to 37.
“He goes under the radar a bit because he has done it for so long in the DDCA, his ability to get big wickets and perform nearly every single game has been unbelievable,” Forsyth said.
Josh Dowling and Boland took one each, while Opanayaka and Baxter claimed two poles.
