By Nick Creely
It took an incredible amount of courage for Springvale South batsman Nathan King to pick himself up after being struck with a cricket ball early in the DDCA Twenty20 semi-final against Buckley Ridges on Wednesday night at Park Oval.
The gun all-rounder was struck in the jaw when he was on 15 in a runout chance, as the Bloods were chasing the Bucks’ 134 to qualify for the Twenty20 grand final.
While his jaw was shattered, it seemed to inspire him even more, with King blasting an incredible 75 off 25 balls; a knock including nine sixes; as the Bloods raced away and swiftly found the runs in just 12 overs.
It is the second massive innings King has played against Buckley this season, with the star bat scoring 115 earlier in the Turf 1 season.
Brett Forsyth (43 not out) and Steven Spoljaric (17 not out) were also in the runs once again, with the Bucks having a rare bad night after only Troy Aust (52 not out) got going with the bat.
Bloods coach Gordon King; also Nathan’s dad; said it was definitely inspiring for his teammates, and believes the injury may have given him more motivation to score big.
“He’s fine; it could have been a lot of worse; he was pretty certain he had broken his jaw at the time, and he could feel his teeth were out of whack,” he said.
“It was good he made a heap of runs, but he only faced 25 balls, so he didn’t bat too long.
“I know he was in pain, but when you’re batting, you can almost concentrate more; if anyone does that (keeps batting), it definitely is inspiring.
“But I don’t want to build it up, or play it down too much, it is what it is, and Nath would be embarrassed about it, but pretty proud.”
Nathan had surgery on Thursday night to get some plates in, and Gordon hopes he will be available in the next few weeks.
“As coach, I would be expecting him to put his name up for selection in the next two-day game,” he said.
“I would really like him in, he’s our opening bat and Michael Vandort is out for the season, so we need him to play a few games before finals.”
It took another incredible individual performance for Berwick, meanwhile, to also qualify for the final, with a brutal Nathan Pilon innings guiding the Bears to victory over HSD at Reedy Reserve.
Pilon belted his first century as a Bear since crossing for the 2015/16 season, and it came at the perfect time as they look to also build momentum into a run at a Turf 1 finals appearance.
After another brilliant knock by Michael Davies (66 not out); taking his run tally for the tournament to 290; as well as an equally impressive performance by skipper Matt Cox (61), the Cobras posted 5/155.
But Pilon had other ideas; feasting on the Cobras, using all of his power and stroke-making ability to strike an incredible 107 not out.
While no other Bear batsmen was able to get going, with the next highest score being Matt Chasemore with 17, Pilon played with power, belting 16 boundaries in total, including five massive sixes, to make it look a lot easier than it was.
After a stumble in the middle order, with the Bears at one point 4/100 in pursuit of the competitive total, Pilon upped the ante, and comfortably surpassed the home side with seven balls to spare, in a class innings and a reminder of the former Victorian and New South Wales keeper’s ability to win matches.
It’s now down to two, with Springvale South and Berwick set to meet in the decider on 14 February at the home of the Bears, Arch Brown Reserve.
