By Nick Creely
With expected rain wreaking havoc upon Melbourne on Saturday and forcing games to be dragged into Sunday, it was certainly a weekend full of plenty of drama and anticipation.
But two crucial things are known as the quest for the DDCA Turf 1 premiership heats up – Hallam Kalora Park are through to the grand final as they chase Turf 1 glory for the first time since 2001/02, and Springvale South advance to the preliminary final with the Bloods once again right up in the thick of it.
At Frawley Road, the semi-final clash between the Hawks and reigning premiers Berwick lived up to its billing.
The winner straight through to the big dance, and the loser needing to quickly pick itself up off the canvas and go again in a prelim.
It was a stunning start for the Bears on Saturday after sending the minor premiers into bat, with star opener Leigh Booth falling early to quick Brendan Rose (2/19), before the ex-Casey-South Melbourne bowler prized the edge of Sachith Jayasingha four balls later.
Ben Hillard – who hasn’t opened the batting all season – got the chance at the top, and did what he did best, soaking up the pressure and bringing the game back to level-pegging in a vital 56-run stand with Matthew Cox (23).
While Cox was stumped off the bowling of Ruwantha Kellepotha (3/49), skipper Jordan Hammond and Hillard dug in with the rain eventually making its way to the south-east, forcing an early finish at 3/82 – Hillard unbeaten on 39.
The next day, the Hawks upped the ante, with Hillard’s fine 64 coming to an end after being run out, with skipper Hammond showcasing his power with a run-a-ball 47 to lift the home side to an impressive 6/171 from its 45 overs.
Hillard soaked up 132 balls in his knock, showing plenty of grit against the star-studded Bears bowlers.
If there was ever a player that the Bears couldn’t afford to lose early it was the dangerous Jordan Cleland, with seamer Will Whyte (3/33) removing the right-hander first ball.
It was a wicket that ultimately the visitors struggled to recover from.
Nathan Pilon (35) battled hard at the top, while the middle-order struggled to get any ascendancy, falling to 6/66 after a stunning burst from Leigh Booth (3/3) completely broke the game open.
Some late fight from James Wilcock (10), Brendan Rose (17) and Jarrod Goodes (21) saw the Bears lift itself to 128 in the end.
But with the Hawks now enjoying the week and prepare for a grand final, the champion Bears will return to Arch Brown Reserve for a prelim on Saturday as they seek to defend its 2019/10 title.
It was a tense showdown between Springvale South and Buckley Ridges at Alex Nelson Reserve in a cut-throat semi-final, with the Bloods ultimately advancing to the preliminary final against Berwick in dramatic circumstances.
There was certainly plenty of different elements to the clash between the two great rivals.
It’s a match always highly anticipated by DDCA onlookers.
On day one, the Bucks were in a strong position after restricting the home side to 5/108 before rain ultimately called the shots.
Despite a blistering start from skipper Nathan King (27), and a typically classy hand from Ryan Quirk (45), seamer Hussain Ali filled the void left by Benny Howell by snaring 4/13 and leaving the Bloods vulnerable.
His wickets included Quirk, the dangerous Clint Tomlinson and Jack Sketcher, as well as reliable keeper-batsman Paul Hill.
But if day two was going to be smooth-sailing, it was anything but.
Due to the rain and complicating factors surrounding wet patches around the pitch, the game was delayed until 4pm, with the Bloods then permitted to bat out its remaining 18 overs and give the visitors 21 overs to chase down the total.
Off the back of Dylan Quirk (24), Akshat Buch (33) and Tim Ford (27 not out), the Bloods lifted itself to 7/190 from its 45 overs, putting the home team in a dominant position.
With time lost, it made the task for Buckley an incredibly difficult, yet not impossible one – chase down 191 in 21 overs, or its season over.
With the club the region’s most dominant Twenty20 force, it was likely that if its biggest stars could find some boundaries early, anything can happen.
That was until left-arm tweaker Akshat Buch took control.
The Bloods spinner came to the club through Dandenong this season, and has been a revelation for the team, combining smarts with the ball and power with the bat to be a tough task for opposition sides.
He will – undoubtedly – be a major key in Saturday’s prelim blockbuster.
But the spinner ensured the Bucks could never really mount a charge, opening the bowling and removing the champ Daniel Watson early.
It was always going to be hard work from there.
With the visitors going with the attitude of just ‘go for it’, Buch used all of his skill to knock over the Bucks, snaring 5/26 from 7.4 overs – his best figures of the season.
The Bucks ultimately were rolled for just 68 with the home side winning by a whopping 122 runs, with Matt Wetering (2/24) and Jarryd Straker (2/9) also getting in on the act.
It remains to be seen whether Buckley Ridges – who have been a powerhouse of the association for a long time – have played their last game in the DDCA, after signalling an intention to depart at the end of this season.
The club is challenging the decision to delay play on Sunday and are understood to be incredibly ‘disappointed’, believing it was a breach of the covers process.
“The ground was bone dry in the morning before the covers were removed. Then once they were removed a wet patch appeared on the outfield which delayed play until 4pm,” an email from the club to the DDCA read.
“This is a direct breach of the covers policy.”
DDCA secretary John Brooks said there was an executive meeting tonight (Monday) to discuss several matters over the weekend, so declined to comment on the matter.
But it sets up an intriguing, mouth-watering clash between Berwick and Springvale South – both with plenty of star-power and hunger for premiership success.
The two sides drew in Round 3 at Alex Nelson Reserve, while in Round 10 the Bears got the better of the Bloods with a sparkling batting performance.
Very little has separated the two powerhouses in 2020/21, who are both well-suited to the white ball game, have star spinners, quality quicks, blistering opening batsmen and rock-solid middle-order batters.
With the clash to begin at 12.30pm at Berwick’s Arch Brown Reserve, its one not to be missed.
DDCA TURF 1 PRELIMINARY FINAL FIXTURE
Berwick v Springvale South – Arch Brown Reserve, 12.30pm
