Fortune favours Springvale South

By Glen Atwell
SPRINGVALE South president Peter Mathison has been involved with his beloved cricket club for 38 of its 40 year existence, but the weekend’s Turf One grand final was, without doubt, the best win he has ever seen.
Mathison said the 180-over epic kept everyone enthralled from the initial coin toss to the last ball of the day.
“It was a game of fluctuating fortunes. I’m thrilled we came out winners,” he said.
“For 39 wickets to fall over the two days, it was a real pressure situation. The bowlers performed admirably.”
Mathison said defending the first innings total of 127 showed an amazing resolve among the players.
“Then, after Berwick smashed 33 from the first three overs in the second innings, the boys held their composure, worked hard and came away with the win,” he said.
The game ended about 7.40pm on Sunday night and Mathison described the light as “pretty dark”.
“If Berwick had have appealed against the light, we would have had to come back this weekend to bowl the last two or three overs,” he said.
Berwick captain Will Carr said on any other day he would have called light.
“It was dark, especially in the last two or three overs, but we had a batsman out there (Ash Henry) who was playing well,” he said.
“Considering we needed a lot of runs off the last couple of overs, there was no need to stop play.”
Carr said the loss was still hurting, but not as much as he would have thought.
“It doesn’t hurt as much because we won the Turf One title last year, but the boys are still very disappointed,” he said.
Carr attributed the loss to several lost opportunities.
“Despite having Springvale at 9/69 in the first innings, we would be happy to chase a first innings total of 127 any day,” he said.
“The instructions were for all of us to bat as usual, like we normally do, but for some reason those small totals are hard to chase.
“After losing one game for the season, finishing two games clear on top of the ladder then dismissing Springvale for 127 in the first innings, you would think we were cherry ripe to win, but that’s cricket, I guess,” Carr said.
“We had our opportunities to win and let them slide.”