By Jarrod Potter
Victorian Sub District Cricket Association – East/West grand final
OAKLEIGH had the wood on Noble Park this finals series.
After the Bulls convincingly charged into the finals they were given a rude awakening by Oakleigh – smashing 8/306 in the VSDCA East/West 1st XI qualifying final before bowling Noble Park for 252.
The Bulls didn’t let their qualifying final clash worry them this week though as they stormed through to their third Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association premiership.
Noble Park (7/152) managed to overcome everything Oakleigh (117) could throw at them.
The good work started on Saturday as Rizan Mawzoon (5/30) tore through the best of the Oakleigh batsmen, with solid support from Anthony Salomon (2/22) and Johan Vorster (1/26).
Rob McCarthy (25) and Brent Warren (26) were the best the home side could muster as Mawzoon bowled his way through the order.
Ben Edmunds (32) finished Saturday not out on 29 and after Marasinghe Perera (26) with Marasinghe Perera (26) falling late in the day to a spectacular one-handed grasp from Lee Hodgson.
It was all Oakleigh traffic on Sunday afternoon as Noble Park lost five wickets en route to the premiership.
Playing through the pain of an infected, broken finger – Johan Vorster (51 not out) was pivotal with the bat – coming in at a crisis at 5/83 and guiding the side through to the premiership 7/152.
Vorster and Sean ‘Sharky’ Schubert (10 not out) was pivotal to getting the Bulls to victory after a tough time handling Splatt (4/28) and Hodgson (3/29) early.
Noble Park surpassed the Oakleigh target with a lofted six from Vorster, but Oakleigh held onto the narrow possibility of a reverse outright victory and kept the Bulls in the field for another half hour desperately trying to salvage the match.
Eventually Jarrod Travaglia and his Oakleigh charges called it a day and congratulated the Bulls on an amazing season – winning the premiership from fourth place.
“It’s the ultimate – I don’t think there’s any other way you can describe it,” Edmunds said.“It’s been one of those years we’ve hung deep and stuck tough and that probably showed… when we did get under a bit of pressure, to rebound.“Did all the hard work yesterday but I didn’t think it would be easy getting 50-odd today (Sunday).
Praising his all-rounder Vorster, Edmunds said the ability for the South African star and Scubert to bounce back and push ahead highlighted the capabilities of the entire team.
“Vorster did a fantastic job and Sharky (Schubert) batted extremely well and kept everything together,” Edmunds said.“(Vorster) has got a broken finger and it’s very infected – he usually bats at four but he ended up batting at eight today so in some ways that may have helped us and he was able to come out and be a bit freer.
“He played in a lot of pain, but I’m sure a few beers will help curb that.”
Man of the match went to the Bulls’ all-rounder Rizan Mawzoon – who was thrilled to have the premiership medal around his neck more so than the individual honour.
“It’s been an amazing year and while it’s nice to win the man of the match, the important thing is that we won the flag and won the premiership,” Mawzoon said.
“I’m glad I could do my bit for the club and the team and I’m very happy.”
“They came out really well,” Mawzoon said.“Early on wasn’t much swing, but after that I was able to hit the bat in the right areas and get the wickets at the right times.
“Bowled patiently – 20 odd overs for 30 runs – so we had to be very patient to get the wickets.”
It is Noble Park’s third VSDCA first XI premiership after wins in 2002/03 and 2005/06.
VSDCA EAST/WEST FIRST XI GRAND FINAL
OAKLEIGH – FIRST INNINGS
BJ McGuinness lbw b R Mawzoon 15
RC McCarthy c D Vandergert b A Salomon 25
*JL Travaglia c MA Perera b A Salomon 0
SA Jones c & b J Vorster 9
BJ Warren lbw b R Mawzoon 26
LJ Hodgson c D Edmunds b R Mawzoon 19
CG Williamson b MA Perera 2
MP Splatt b MA Perera 0
AD Ross c D Vandergert b R Mawzoon 8
BW Pinwill b R Mawzoon 0
+DN Junkeer not out 3
Extras (nb 2, w 0, b 0, lb 8) 10 Total 117 Overs 55.5
FOW: 40 (BJ McGuinness) 44 (JL Travaglia) 49 (RC McCarthy) 63 (SA Jones) 101 (LJ Hodgson) 104 (CG Williamson) 106 (MP Splatt) 106 (BJ Warren) 106 (BW Pinwill) 117 (AD Ross).
Bowling: J Vorster 10-2-1-26. R Mawzoon 22.5-10-5-30. A Salomon 8-1-2-22. A Berman 4-0-0-11. M Fernando 3-0-0-10. M Perera 8-3-2-10.
NOBLE PARK – FIRST INNINGS
*D Edmunds b MP Splatt 4
B Edmunds c BJ Warren b CG Williamson 32
MA Perera c LJ Hodgson b CG Williamson 26
+D Vandergert lbw b LJ Hodgson 8
MJ Fernando b MP Splatt 8
JW Richardson c DN Junkeer b MP Splatt 2
R Mawzoon b MP Splatt 2
J Vorster not out 51
S Schubert not out 10
A Berman dnbA Salomon dnbExtras (nb 0, w 0, b 2, lb 8) 10
Total 7/152 Overs 49.0
FOW: 4 (D Edmunds) 64 (MA Perera) 71 (B Edmunds) 82 (MJ Fernando) 84 (D Vandergert) 87 (R Mawzoon) 104 (JW Richardson).
BowlingMP Splatt 14-4-4-28. AD Ross 5-1-0-14. BW Pinwill 5-2-0-18. RC McCarthy 3-0-0-14. LJ Hodgson 10-3-1-29. JL Travaglia 6-0-0-20. CG Williamson 6-0-2-20.
