By Blair Burns
A score of 170 may not seem much, but add in the pressure of finals and one of the best bowling attacks in the competition, and you’ve got a competitive total to defend.
After the second day of play was washed out last Sunday, the rest of the DDCA Turf 2 grand final will go ahead this Saturday at Thomas Carroll Reserve.
The equation is simple; Parkmore Pirates need 171 to win, while HSD need to take 10 wickets.
The teams met in the grand final three seasons ago and Parkmore Pirates won it in a thriller, with HSD needing eight runs to win of the final over, managing just three as they lost their final wicket with one ball remaining.
HSD captain Craig Hookey wished his side could’ve posted a score closer to 200; however felt “confident” going into the second day of the contest.
“It’s pretty simple for us, we need to create 10 chances and we need to take them … we won’t defend the score if they bat out the overs,” he said.
“We are pretty confident that we can defend it … we’ve bowled every team out in the past seven weeks so we are looking forward to the weekend.”
Last Saturday’s opening partnership for HSD was strong as Ethan French and Brent Patterson and set the Cobras up for a good day.
But Ammar Bajwa’s brilliant spell of bowling shifted the game in favour of Parkmore as he took 6-44 off 26.4 overs, but hope is far from lost for the Snakes.
In 12 matches this season, HSD has conceded more than 170 on just three occasions and bowled out the Pirates for just 122 (their lowest all-out score this season) when the sides met in Round 10.
Ryan Patterson and Brett Hookey were good with ball in hand for the Cobras taking two wickets each while Parkmore captain Niranjen Kumar was one of his side’s best with 20-not-out.
HSD has taken 118 wickets this season which is more than any other side in the competition so you definitely can’t count them out with the ball.
Early wickets is a must and they will be looking to some of their strike bowlers like Sakuntha Liyanage (30 wickets at 12.23) and Ryan Patterson (24 wickets at 14.54) to get them off to a great start.
Another key player to watch will be left-arm fast bowler Triyan De Silva who took 4-27 off 14 overs last time they met, including four of the top five batters.
Parkmore Pirates’ weapons with the ball will also be important players with the blade in hand.
Satheesh Fernandu has been the most consistent batter for the Pirates this season, strongly contributing to the team’s success with five half centuries.
Fernandu has scored 435 runs at an average of 36.25 this season but and will be a player that will have to removed early in the innings if HSD is to defend 170.
There is no in-between for Fernandu, he is seemingly impossible to dismiss once he reaches double figures with scores of 51, 35, 63, 78, 44*, 50, 37 and 54 (averaging 58.86 after reaching 10) but is vulnerable early with his only other scores this year 0, 9, 8, 6 and 0.
HSD doesn’t exactly have the best success rate in the Turf 2 competition, having made finals 13 times in the club’s history to just one flag in 2010-11 – they have lost in the grand final four times.
But Hookey is hoping a more carefree and relaxed approach to the pointy end of the season could turn the tides for his team.
“In past years we’ve treated finals as something to be a bit nervous or afraid of, but we’re just trying to treat each week of this final’s series as another game,” he said.
“We’ve relaxed and enjoyed the experience of finals and we’re really excited to play on Saturday and give our bowlers a great chance to take some early wickets.”
Parkmore Pirates’ captain, Niranjen Kumar said his side would not come into the second innings with any complacency.
“A score of 170 gives a fair chance to both sides, we can’t be complacent because we know how good their bowling is,” he said.
“With totals like this, one big partnership can get half of that total, we will see how they treat the game but there is some variable bounce and the outfield was a lot quicker than I remember.”
