DDCA earns an historic win

– Gavin Staindl
THE Dandenong and District Cricket Association’s under-21 representative side has claimed an historical third consecutive Neil Wright Shield at Windy Hill on Sunay.
From the first ball to the last, the DDCA’s under-21 team had fans on the edge of their seats as the DDCA became the first side to win three consecutive shields since Northern Suburban achieved the feat in the early 1920s.
In an epic finish, the DDCA snatched a six-wicket win from the clutches of the Victorian Turf Cricket Association in the final ball of the game.
Needing nine runs from the last over the game was in the balance. But when man-of-the-match Liam Coates (52 not out) and Jamie Brohier (46) could only rummage one run from the first two balls the game began to slip away.
But a stunning six from Jamie Brohier resurrected the DDCA’s chances.
Needing only two runs from three balls, Brohier could not find a run on the fourth ball.
A quick single from the following delivery meant the DDCA needed one run off the last ball otherwise the two teams would be declared joint premiers.
With the 10 fielders hovering around the bat, Brohier and Coates scampered through for a single and only a missed run-out chance at the bowler’s end gifted the exuberant DDCA the last-ball win.
“It was quite special,” triple premiership coach Peter Lindsay said. “I didn’t think we could get there, we really needed something special and when Jamie smacked that six the crowd rose to their feet, it was quite deafening. Coates bunted one out wide and they took off like a pair of hares and it was all quite special. I’ve never been in an organisation that has won three in a row.”
Earlier, Tim Ford (3/33) gave the DDCA the perfect start, claiming the scalp of the Victorian Turf’s opener in the first ball of the day.
Three run-outs helped dismiss Victorian Turf for 160, a reasonable score on a big ground.
Along with Ford’s (33) effort with the bat, the Peter Lindsay-led under-21s joined the DDCA under-16s, who took out the Jim Bietzel shield last week, as the state’s best representative sides.