By Nick Creely
DDCA TURF 1
GRAND FINAL REVIEW
Mordialloc can lay claim to being the most dominant Turf 1 side of the last decade, after downing Heinz-Southern Districts to hold their hands on their second piece of silverware in three years.
And it took one of the most special individual performances in Turf 1 history from Ian Daniel to achieve it, with the Bloodhounds all-rounder dominating proceedings.
With the first ever stand-alone grand final in the association’s history, crowds flocked to Arch Brown Reserve in Berwick to see history in the making.
Mordialloc elected to bat on a belter of a deck that had a little bit for both batsman and bowler, and from the outset it was obvious runs were gold, and that anything over 200 would be difficult to chase.
Daniel, who has played some destructive knocks throughout the season, was on-song early with some piercing stroke-play, and raced away early to set the tone for the Bloodhounds.
But when he was dismissed for a glorious 62, which included two massive sixes, the score was 3/81, such was his dominance.
This lifted the tails of the Cobras’ bowlers, led by the swinging dynamo Kaushyla Weeraratne (3/61) and the ever slick Michael Davies (2/39), who then wrestled back control over the contest to leave the Bloodhounds at 6/129.
Stuart Squires (54) then proceeded to play a true captain’s knock, despite the dominos regularly falling behind him, grinding out some testing periods to lift his side to a highly competitive 220, with the last wicket falling on the last over of the day’s play.
Hari Krishan (26) was also amongst the runs for the Bloodhounds, belting two sixes off Chadwick Van Estrop in quick succession.
On the final day of the 2016/17 season, the Cobras were locked in an almighty battle, grinding out the first half-hour, with Squires and Chathura Athukorala steaming in and hitting relentlessly good lines.
At the first drinks-break on day two, the Cobras were 1/22 off 15 overs, Adam Semmens back in the sheds after being trapped LBW by Daniel, needing a strong partnership to get back into the contest.
Brad Downe and Rob Davies then set about building a partnership, reaching 1/40 off 33 overs heading into the lunch break.
But it all fell apart after lunch as soon as Daniel got his hands on the leather.
He then shredded the middle-order in brutal fashion, snaring the key trio Matt Cox (3), Kaushyla Weeraratne (3) and Michael Davies (0) in a matter of minutes, leaving the Cobras hanging by a thread at 5/58, before dismissing Shehan Bandaranyake (3) almost instantly to leave them six down.
Brodie Yapp (24) and Rob Davies (53) desperately tried to get them back into the contest, fighting resolutely before Stuart Squires (1/33) broke through to remove Yapp.
At 7/92 there was only the slightest bit of hope left – until the sight of Daniel streaming in ended it.
He took out the stumps of Trevor Davies (4) to leave them 7/101, a brief period of resistance ensured the Cobras would then reach 7/138, before Chathura Athukorala (1/22) snared Rob Davies and then instantly Daniel skittled Chadwick Van Estrop’s stumps to cap off a memorable day.
Daniel finished with the astonishing figures of 8/43 off 27.2 overs, and a total of 15 wickets and 68 runs across two finals.
It mirrored and probably outshadowed some of the legendary grand final performances of the past, such as Cam Dinger’s 6/44 in the second innings of the 2015/16 decider, Yoshan Kumara’s 9/60 in a losing cause in 2013/14, and Daniel Watson’s whirlwind 188 not out in 2012/13.
He was duly awarded the Man of the Match, in a performance that needed to be seen to be believed.
