By JARROD POTTER
DDCA TURF 1 GRAND FINAL REVIEW
BEYOND extraordinary.
It’s a match without compare in local cricket history and nor will it ever be surpassed as the most thrilling end to the DDCA Turf 1 season.
The greatest finish a cricket season has seen unfolded at Keysborough as Springvale South (138 and 87) was beaten by Cranbourne (65 and 5/163) in a Turf 1 reverse-outright thriller.
It started horrendously for the minor premiers before the game as import spinner Malinga Bandara had his Supreme Court appeal quashed and his DDCA tribunal misconduct charge upheld.
It didn’t get better for the Bloods early on Saturday after losing Nathan King (8), Harry Staude (0) and Dylan Quirk (12) for next-to-nothing as Martin Kelly (3/24) and Steve Spoljaric (2/30) chipped away at the top order.
Craig Slocombe (21) went from belting the stuffing out of the attack to succumbing to Chasemore in a quick-fire knock that left the side spinning at 4/71.
The initiative was left to Sri Lankan import Michael Vandort (58) who braced himself and held on.
In the end the Bloods managed to work their way into the clash through a remarkable lower order partnership.
Mitchell Forsyth (16) played out of his skin to hold on with Vandort as the duo added 26 for the seventh stand.
Vandort raised the bat for his 50 but soon fell to young leggie Cam Dinger (3/24) after an impressive 176-ball occupation of the crease while Forsyth carried on with the tail to add the final few drips to the Bloods’ bank of runs.
The fading light only renewed Springvale South’s hopes as the openers went on the warpath.
Jarrod Armitage (7/20) was beyond sensational in his first-up eight over spell – cannoning through Brayden Roscoe (1) before finding the edge of Jake Harrington (6) and Wookey Medallist Matt Chasemore (1).
Lucas Ligt (4) set himself to see out the remaining overs and held on throughout the chaos unleashed by Armitage, Tim Ford (1/4) and Nathan King (0/6).
Craig Slocombe saved his ace for the last over of the day, though, bringing on his young part-timer Brayden Sharp (1/0).
Sharp managed to flight a left-arm miracle, taking arguably the biggest wicket of his career to get rid of the dogged Ligt, caught brilliantly by King.
Spoljaric (20) and Stuart Plunkett (12) were left to see out the day but both would struggle early on day two.
Everything was primed for Armitage to begin a day two rampage as he shattered Cranbourne’s hopes … or at least everyone thought he did.
The sun baked the deck and Armitage flayed all and sundry.
Armitage seared through the Eagles to take a grand-final seven-for and give his side the first innings victory and what most people assumed would be the game as the last runs were squeezed from Cranbourne to get to 65.
Cranbourne, somewhat begrudgingly at first, returned to the crease to try for one last miracle. That miracle came in the form of young spinner Dinger (6/44).
In tandem with Chasemore (1/21), Dinger rattled through the Bloods’ attack and set the stage for a race to the finish.
When everyone else was getting ready to wave the white flag, Dinger picked off Nathan King (7) Dylan Quirk (12) and Harry Staude (9) then captured the prized wicket of Craig Slocombe (5).
With 27 overs or 10 wickets for Springvale South and the Twnety20-esque chase of 161 for Cranbourne, not much hope was given for Cranbourne in the second innings and it started slowly through Stuart Plunkett (9) and Brayden Roscoe (16).
But that was all part of Spoljaric’s (61) master plan – saving himself and Chasemore (59no) for first and second drop to let the openers get the shine off the new ball.
It worked to plan as Spoljaric showed his calibre on the big stage yet again.
He was primed for another masterclass at the crease as Spoljaric began unloading on the tiring quicks.
Spoljaric thumped five sixes down the ground to send the Bloods scrambling to all points on the rope as King (0/60), Matt Wetering (0/13) and Armitage (1/58) copped a pasting off the Cranbourne champion.
But when he chopped on against Slocombe, the match took one last twist.
It left 49 to get off only six overs but that wasn’t a problem for Chasemore (59no) who lit up Keysborough with the second barrage of boundaries.
He was joined by miracle-man himself Dinger (10no) who slapped one of his first balls into the rope to cut the deficit to 18 runs off 20 balls.
Chasemore finished the job with a whopping six before sealing the deal with a four to start the celebrations.
