By Marcus Uhe
Jayson Hobbs spent much of Buckley Ridges’ run chase on day two against Narre South pacing laps of Strathaird Reserve in solitude.
The captain’s contribution to the innings was over, he was rendered powerless, nothing left for him to do other than trust his teammates to get the job done.
As his step count soared, wickets fell and runs slowly ticked along in pursuit of 167, memories of an eerily similar predicament from seasons past flooded back.
The parallels were vast.
It was the 2019/20 season, against the same opponent, at the same venue, only this occasion was a sudden-death semi-final.
Buckley Ridges bowled first, dismissing the Lions for 131, before Hobbs and his then opening partner Greg Todd set about the target.
The two reached 70 before Todd was dismissed, the beginning of a remarkable Narre South comeback.
0/70 became 9/127 with the season’s Wookey Medal winner Morteza Ali leading the Lions’ charge, having ripped through Buckley Ridges’ top order with four consecutive wickets.
Matthew Goodwright was the ninth man to go for Buckley Ridges, leaving the last wicket pair of Westley Nicholas and Adrian Neill with five runs required to keep the season alive.
Seven dots in a row, five off Ali’s bowling, saw the tension reach fever-pitch, until the number-10 Neill found the third man boundary to secure the result.
When current-day hero James Anson repeated Neill’s feat on Saturday, this time through square leg, the relief from the Buckley boys and their supporters was evident, the one-wicket win maintaining the Park Oval men’s undefeated season.
Hobbs is the only remaining Buckley player from that afternoon’s contest, while Jawed Hussaini is still going round for the Lions.
And whilst the stakes were not as significant in the modern day tussle, Hobbs was quick to reinforce the value of gritty “character building” wins like what they had just produced.
“Those wins add up so much come the end of the season and to get the six points was brilliant,” Hobbs said on Saturday afternoon.
“(The last pair) just hung on.
“The bowlers bowled a few overs and got a bit tired and they capitalised on the one down the leg side there.
“(we had) 10 runs to get and the last two boys got us over the line, that was fantastic.”
The game was delicately balanced after day one, with Buckley’s excellent bowling performance slightly unravelling in the evening session with the loss of four wickets.
But on a tricky wicket, Hobbs wasn’t overly phased by the stumble, taking the positives from the afternoon session.
“You obviously don’t want to lose four wickets overnight but we knocked off 65 so that wasn’t too bad,” he said.
“It wasn’t a bad score on that pitch to be honest, it was probably about par, maybe a little under.
“I thought we bowled okay, we contained well through periods but we struggled to contain in some positions throughout the game.
“Other than that I was pretty happy with 165 and then to get the runs was fantastic.
“Today is a game where, they just add up so much, one run wins, come the end of the season.
“If you don’t get the six points, it’s massive, it really does add up. “
