By Tyler Lewis
The Bloods are on a roll.
After defeating Narre South in emphatic fashion last week, Springvale South has upset Berwick to set a mouth-watering date with arch-rivals Buckley Ridges in the DDCA Turf 1 grand final.
The Bears got off to a horror start, after winning the toss and electing to bat first, as star off-spinner Akshat Buch (2/16 off seven) added both openers – Jordan Cleland and Lachie Brown – to his long list of victims.
Buch’s partner in crime – Josh Dowling (4/26 off 11) – soon joined in on the action, with the pair capturing six of the seven Bears wickets to fall.
Berwick number-five Matt Robertson (55) and skipper James Wilcock (36) somewhat steadied the ship for the Bears, but the dot ball pressure appeared to be too impactful by the conclusion of the innings.
With Andrew Perrin and James Wilcock standing ahead of the Bloods and the 154 to get, the message from within the Springy South rooms was simple: get through the new ball.
Mitch Forsyth (10 off 41 balls) and Ryan Quirk (51 off 94) batted intelligently, knowing the batters behind them will benefit from every delivery they see off.
The pair put on 44 before Forsyth picked out a fielder in the deep off a short ball.
While they only needed a further 110 runs, Jordy Wyatt (43 off 51) and Quirk’s 68-run partnership paved the way for the Bloods victory.
Disappointingly for the duo, both Wyatt and Quirk fell short of the target, leaving Jackson Sketcher (27 off 26) and Blade Baxter (11 off 22) to finish off the seven-wicket win.
In the two finals the Bloods have played in this year, Buch and Dowling have combined for 11/77 from their 34.4 overs with the addition of seven maidens.
The pair did it again on Saturday, but it didn’t come as a shock to opening bat Ryan Quirk.
“Those two are class acts, we have no doubts Josh (Dowling) – although he hasn’t had the season he would’ve wanted – we know how good Josh is,” he said.
“Every single week we back him with the new ball.
“Buch with the new ball as well is massive, for a spinner to open the bowling with a new ball is actually quite tough, but the way he does it… he is disciplined, he doesn’t miss his length and he is tough to score off.
“I think the start we got on the weekend, I think we had them three for not many, getting Jordy (Cleland) and Lachie (Brown) out – who have been good all year for them – was massive for us.”
With just 154 to get, Quirk and his opening partner were in no hurry, especially knowing the fire-power he had in the sheds.
“With us the run rate was never going to be a problem,” Quirk said.
“On a good deck, with a nice outfield, short boundary square, we knew if we had wickets in hand we can back ourselves to chase down anything.
“Scrappy (James Wilcock) and Perrin are probably two of the best seam bowlers in the league so it was really important for me and Mitch to get through them.
“We knew the run rate was never going to be a problem for us, but I knew if we could get through Scrappy and Perrin we would be on our way.
“That was mine and Mitch’s plan, try and kill the game early.”
Quirk compiled his fifth half-century of the summer in the successful run chase, but he modestly said a partner in the middle order often eases the pressure.
“To keep a side like Berwick to 150 on that ground was an unbelievable effort,” he said.
“I think that momentum was taken into our batting as well.
“Batting with Jordy is very easy, he takes the pressure off does Jordy.
“My role is to bat through, it was the same as it has been all year.
“My role (Saturday) was to be there with Jordy, obviously he scores at a run a ball more often than not.
“When we have Sketcher and Baxter in after us, we knew if we got it close they would finish the job for us, which they did.
There have been some discussions over the pitches that are coming up in the Turf 1 competition, but Quirk faced two the best bowlers in the competition on the Arch Brown track and had nothing but commendations for it.
“The pitch was really hard, it was a really nice deck,” he said.
“There wasn’t a lot of seam movement, not a lot of swing or anything, not a lot of spin (either) to be honest.
“We just wanted to get a lot of variations in, try hit a nice line and length, if it was over pitched it was very driveable and if it was short it definitely sat up.
“It was a nice deck and we just had to back our bowlers to hit a length regularly.”
The win for the Bloods sets up a brilliant grand final with Buckley Ridges, with the winner set to take the lead for the most Turf 1 premierships won.
The Bucks will have ‘home ground’ advantage when it welcomes the Bloods to their own deck.
SCORECARD
BERWICK v SPRINGVALE SOUTH
BERWICK
J Cleland c Forsyth b Buch 6 (19)
L Brown lbw Buch 1 (10)
B Herkness c Straker b Dowling 11 (16)
D Mapa Ralalage c Hill b Dowling 16 (52)
M Robertson c Baxter b Dowling 55 (107)
J Wilcock b Dowling 36 (48)
R Siwes c Hill b Baxter 2 (4)
N Shirt not out 14 (11)
A Perrin not out 2 (4)
Extras: (nb1, w3, lb6) 10
Total: (45 overs) 7/153
Fall of wicket: 4, 18, 19, 73, 116, 119, 140
Bowling: J Dowling 12-2-4-26, A Buch 7-0-2-16, B Baxter 11-1-1-57, J Straker 7-0-0-19, K Martin 3-0-0-20, J Sketcher 5-0-0-9
SPRINGVALE SOUTH
M Forsyth c Wilcock b Shirt 10 (41)
R Quirk b Wilcock 51 (94)
J Wyatt c Brown b Siwes 43 (51)
J Sketcher not out 27 (26)
B Baxter not out 11 (22)
Extras: (nb3, w3, b1, lb5) 12
Total: (38.3 overs) 3/154
Fall of wicket: 44, 112, 114
Bowling: A Perrin 11.3-0-0-35, J Wilcock 9-1-1-38, J Goodes 7-0-0-21, N Shirt 4-1-1-12, V Baxter 3-0-0-10, R Siwes 4-0-1-32
Springvale South won.
GRAND FINAL FIXTURE
Buckley Ridges v Springvale South – Alex Nelson Reserve 11am
