By Marcus Uhe
History will repeat itself in Saturday’s DDCA Turf 1 Grand Final after Springvale South earned the right to defend its premiership against Buckley Ridges with a four-wicket preliminary final win over Hallam Kalora Park.
The Bloods survived a middle-order collapse, and a Hawks side feeling that they had nothing to lose, to secure a spot in the decider against the team they defeated in last year’s big dance.
All-rounder Blade Baxter was sensational in both disciplines, taking 4/46 from his 12 overs and finishing 55 not out, striking the winning runs with a lofted drive in the second-last over amid fading sunlight at Alex Nelson Reserve.
Having not been utilised until the 21st over in last week’s semi final, stand-in skipper Jordan Wyatt threw the veteran left-armer the ball in the ninth over as the Bloods looked to break another sturdy Hawks’ opening partnership.
Wyatt was given captaincy duties due to Ryan Quirk’s unavailability, who suffered a fractured foot at football training on Monday night and watched the game on crutches from the sidelines.
Barring a miraculous recovery, he is unlikely to be available for this week’s grand final.
While Leigh Booth and Jagveer Hayer were not scoring freely, both looked comfortable at the crease as the Springvale South seamers struggled for discipline and impact on the docile wicket.
No boundaries came from the blade until a Booth on-drive at the end of the 10th over, but the opening bowling pair of Yoshan Kumara and Josh Dowling bowled 13 extras in the first six overs.
Baxter’s introduction to the crease caused instant issues for the batters, with Booth struck on the pads twice in one of Baxter’s early overs.
The partnership was broken on 67 when Kumara and Paul Hill combined for a run-out after some indecision from batters left Booth short of his ground on 31.
Hayer departed two overs later for 21 as Hill’s excellent day behind the stumps began to take shape, grasping a sharp catch while standing-up to the stumps off the bowling of Jackson Sketcher.
Hill soon had Matthew Cox sensationally stumped off a leg-side wide from Sketcher in the 27th over, and took another close catch off Baxter to remove Ryan Hillard as the Hawks had ground to a halt at 4/87 in the 31st over.
Sketcher (2/17 off seven) and finger spinner Jarryd Straker (0/8 from seven with four maidens) had the Hawks in a middle-overs choke-hold, with no boundaries struck between the 19th and 31st overs as Hallam scored at just over one run per over during that stretch.
Following Ben Hillard’s dismissal at 5/95, Jordan Hammond began to free his arms to ensure he and his fellow bowlers had something to defend in the second innings.
The final 10 overs elicited 67 runs, with the captain top-scoring with 40 off 66 to set Springvale South 161 for victory.
Needing early wickets, Hammond turned to his leading wicket taker in Sachith Jayasingha to partner William Whyte with the new ball, and immediately his variations troubled Mitch Forysth, who survived multiple appeals for LBW off the spinner’s bowling.
But in spite of the slow surface, it was the Hallam’s seamers who had the most success.
Hammond got through the defences of Forsyth in the 11th over to ignite his side and spark a rapid swing in momentum.
The captain had Quirk’s replacement in Jordan Mackenzie out in his next over, for a boundary-laden 27, before the wickets of Wyatt and Sketcher in consecutive Lauchlan Gregson deliveries sent the Hawks into raptures.
Suddenly, the star-studded ladder leaders, the only undefeated side in the home-and-away season, had lost 4/13 in four overs and were on the back foot at 4/52.
When Cam Forysth chopped-on off Whyte, on the first ball after drinks at 5/79, the prospect of bombing-out in straight sets was becoming more and more real for the defending champions.
It was time for another Baxter late-innings fightback, having dug his side out of trouble against Narre South and Buckley Ridges in critical contests earlier in the year.
With the game in the balance, Hammond turned to Booth in a decision that would prove costly, as Kumara and Baxter wrestled-back some control.
Much like the first innings, the Bloods didn’t find the boundary rope between the 20th and 30th over, as the colourful bowling pair of Whyte and Lee Brown seized the opportunity to apply a sleeper-hold of their own.
But Booth’s 10-ball over, which featured a knee-high full toss dispatched for four, two wides and two no-balls, relieved some pressure on the home side.
Hammond was forced to bring himself back on, and had Kumara given out LBW in his first over back, to grab his third in what was becoming an incredible performance from the former Wookey medalist.
The Hawks were now four wickets away from an unlikely grand final berth as the run rate drew nearer to a run-a-ball.
Had Cox held-on to a difficult catch off Hill at first slip from the spin of Jayasingha, the challenge may well have been too much for the Bloods to overcome.
But Baxter’s cool head was the major wicket remaining.
In Hammond’s final over, he struck a glorious lofted drive that hung in the air with a fielder circling underneath.
Cries of “caaaaaaaaatch” punctuated the Springvale surrounds, before an uncomfortable silence, punctured by the clang of leather on aluminum as the ball crashed into the roof of the bench behind the bowler’s arm.
It reduced the equation to just 15 required off the final four overs, which they reached in the penultimate set of six.
It sets-up a mouth-watering replay of the 2021/22 decider, and the epic semi final from last week against their rivals from Park Oval.
The DDCA Turf 1 Grand Final will begin at 11am on Saturday at Berwick’s Arch Brown Reserve.
