By Jonty Ralphsmith
Noble Park has taken out the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association South East premiership with a 43-run win over Ormond on the weekend.
In a seesawing game, the Parkers looked in trouble on several occasions but ultimately ran through the Ormond tail to get over the line in a tense low-scoring battle.
Sent in to bat first, Noble Park lost both openers early at Moodemere Oval as Ormond set the tone early for a dominant early period of play.
Skipper Janaka Liyanabadalge and Sahan Perera were left to resurrect the innings, batting together for 19 overs but never able to inject significant momentum their way.
Perera didn’t have his usual fluency, with he and Liyanabadalge dismissed within 15 balls of each other which generated energy for the Monders.
In a 45-ball period after the Perera wicket, they conceded just seven runs, culminating in a Jaspreet Singh wicket on the first ball of the 39th over.
At that stage, Ormond felt close to breaking the game wide open, but Bhanuka Keppetipola played a key knock in transferring the pressure and hurring the scoreboard along.
He scored four boundaries, including three big sixes in his first balls at the crease .
It meant the wicket-taking over turned in to one which cost 22 runs – as many runs as what came in the previous 16 overs.
Keppetipola clattered 57 off 39 in a match-turning 57 off 39, his eight boundaries giving Noble Park belief that it had a score to bowl at.
Matthew Pearson, who played a selfless role absorbing pressure, importantly stayed at the crease with him well and the bottom-three scraped together 25 between them to raise their score to 175.
Noble Park kept the game alive by taking consistent wickets in the first half of the Ormond innings.
After his success with the ball in recent weeks, Perera’s spin was again called on to open the bowling and he was tidy, but Ormond was able to see off his and Nishantha Weerakkody’s opening spell.
After his anchor role with the bat, Liyanabadalge got the crucial first breakthrough which started things off for Noble park, which thereafter had a knack of striking just as a partnership looked to be forming.
Combinations of 27, 12, 16, 14 and 28 edged Ormond closer before the sixth wicket, that of James Bartholomeusz, felt critical in the context of the game.
Bartholomeusz batted with composure in a big game and was willing to bat time given the nominal total on the board, but the Noble skipper lured him into a pull shot straight to the well-positioned square leg who took an important catch.
From there it was a relative procession for Noble Park, none of the tail showing significant fight with the last three wickets falling for three runs.
The last wicket fell as Ormond middle-order batter Bailey Moon, batting with the tail, looked to show some urgency and took on Liyanabadalge but was caught on the boundary, cuing wild celebrations for Noble Park.
Sahan Perera’s dominant season with the bat set the foundation for a strong season, but the finals series demonstrated the club is multi-dimensional with the stable batting order and well-rounded attack guiding it to a premiership.
