SPRINGVALE SOUTH was the grand beneficiary of a strange scenario panning out at Dunblane Reserve between Parkfield and Heinz – with the Cobras falling out of the four and the Bloods squeaking in for another chance to avenge their DDCA 2011/12 grand final defeat.
SPRINGVALE SOUTH v COOMOORA
By the skin of their teeth – or more importantly, by Jarrod Armitage (36 not out) and Damien Stoter-Rainer’s (16 not out) – Springvale South (9/196) completed a miraculous comeback to eke past Coomoora (187) and book a spot in the finals.
The heavy lifting start via Steve Masterson (69) – who started strongly with Tim Ford (11) at the top of the order before the implosion occurred.
From 0/20, the Bloods dropped the next five wickets for 15 runs as Rob Johnston (5/60) attempted to spoil the Springvale South party.
Dusting themselves off and getting out of complete chaos, perennial workhorse Craig Slocombe (28) turned the run-rate around and kept ticking along with Masterson until edging on and falling at 6/77 – still 110 runs in arrears.
Word would’ve spanned the four blocks between Alex Nelson Reserve and Dunblane Reserve and the news of Parkfield’s success gave renewed hope despite the scoreline.
Andrew Sharp (17) ticked off a few more runs, but at 7/110, victory still looked miles away.
Masterson found his best partner at number eight – with Armitage gutting in for the most important 36 runs of his career to date.
The Masterson/Armitage partnership reaped 53 before Masterson finally fell after a match-rescuing half-century – leaving another 24 to attain.
Harry Staude (1) came and went without much resistance, leaving it to Armitage and Stoter-Rainer.
Working the singles as they came, the lower-order pair saw off the long spells of Oliver Ashford (3/43), Dave Nutting (1/25) and Johnston to fight their way past the total and into the finals on the back of a 32-run final wicket partnership.
PARKFIELD v HEINZ SOUTHERN DISTRICTS
The Cobras (92 and 79) threw away their chance to make the finals, after resuming at 1/12 in their second innings.
Resistance was sparse as captain Trevor Davies (21) anchored the late order resistance with Justin Davis (16) after the side folded to 5/24.
From there the wheels fell completely off as the crash. Shane Bell (4/38) and Steve Spoljaric (3/24) did most of the damage with the ball.
With an 84-run lead, Heinz got close to pulling off the unlikely outright victory, but Parkfield inched towards the total, despite losing eight wickets.
Parkfield’s Tony Payne (44) did most of the heavy lifting at the start of the chase, before Paul Stockdale (4/31) spun the Cobras back into the match and into a 10-wicket match for himself.
It was left to Bears captain Spoljaric (25 not out) to make his most important 25 of his career, guiding Parkfield to 8/88 and second innings points.
With only four points in the ledger, Heinz slipped behind Springvale South which defeated Coomoora to grasp the last finals spot by a nose and will finish fifth.
BUCKLEY RIDGES v DANDENONG WEST
In a match of prideful boasting rather than finals relevance, the Ridges (5/222) deep batting made light work of Dandenong West (215) – chasing the runs in 62 overs.
Half centuries to Dan Watson (56 not out) and Greg Todd (53) were the guiding factor as only Alex Roberts (4/24) could make inroads from the bowler’s crease. The sides will face again this weekend with a lot more on the line in the second semi-final.
NORTH DANDENONG v BERWICK
There won’t be a back-to-back title defence by Berwick (168), unable to get close to North Dandenong’s 264.
Chris Davies (54) batted manfully throughout the morning, with good help from Ryan Crawford (51), but outside of those two and Col Tucker (22), the Bears failed to find enough spark to get across the line.
Splitting the wickets, North Dandenong seamers Shane Clark (3/32) and Roshan de Silva (3/51) finished the season strongly with the ball.
The Norths dodged a massive bullet – managing to pick up wins in their last three matches to avoid the wooden spoon and relegation. More consistency throughout the season will be key next year to getting out of the bottom third of the ladder.
