“It is one thing to get the winning runs and it was pretty special, but I knew we still had a long way to go” Springvale South captain Andrew Staude
It was Springvale South who kicked off its premiership celebrations with a Turf 3 premiership victory against Lynbrook, winning by one wicket in a thrilling grand final.
The victory means the Bloods will now have both Turf 1 and Turf 2 sides in the 2026/27 season; an indication of the overall strength of the club.
After bowling Lynbrook out for 123 on a wicket full of moisture on day one, Springvale South quickly slumped to 4/10 in the run chase.
They reached 4/78 at stumps, but the game had another twist yet, as the runs dried up and wickets continued to fall, giving fans a heart-stopping finish to the grand final.
Bloods captain Andrew Staude said the game was full of “momentum swings” and he was glad to come out on top.
“The ups and downs were crazy in the game; obviously it started with the ball, we got three early wickets and then they built a little partnership before we took another quick set of wickets,” he said.
“We knock them off for 123 and thinking we are in a good position, then we go into to bat and lose 4/10.
“It took a bit to come back from that and then the winning runs when we were eight wickets down, so it was a really special win.”
DEMONS IN THE DECK
It was a spicy deck at Marriott Waters Reserve and the 19 wickets which fell, as well as balls rearing up off the pitch, reflected that.
The Lakers batted first after winning the toss on day one, but things didn’t go according to plan as Bloods’ opening bowlers Matthew Jameson and Matt Wetering gave the top order nightmares.
Before they knew it, Lynbrook was 7/66, with Adam Read also coming on and taking 3/20 off 14.1 overs in an exceptional spell for Springy.
Staude said the pitch was “wet” early on day one and proved very difficult for batting.
“I was really surprised when they elected to bat, we would have bowled,” he said.
“The pitch was wet and the ball was leaving divots in the wicket wherever it pitched, and then coming back on Sunday, they had hardened and dried which didn’t make it any easier.”
The Lakers were bowled out for just 123 in 48.1 overs, with just one player managing to score more than nine runs, and that was Jay Walia.
Walia scored a brilliant half century which included seven boundaries, finishing with 66 from 150 balls; he faced more than half the innings on his own and scored more than half of the runs.
Matt Wetering (3/26), Adam Read (3/20) and Matthew Jameson (3/19) were on song for the Bloods with the ball.
Would 123 be enough? You wouldn’t have thought so, but some late drama on day one suggested the Lakers could defend the total.
Read (duck) was the first Springy batter to depart after chopping the ball onto the stumps off the bowling of Ismatulla Shariffie, 1/0 after 1.3 overs.
This started a collapse, as Springvale South soon fell to 4/10 after nine overs and the momentum was largely in favour of the Lakers.
CLUTCH COUNTERATTACK
The Bloods needed a pair to lead them out of the precarious position and that was Stephen Hennessy (36 off 100 balls) and captain Staude (40 off 79 balls).
Defending hadn’t been working too well and Staude said it was time to try something different.
“It is one thing to survive, but I suppose at 4/10, we needed to counterattack a bit and get some of the momentum back,” he said.
“If we just sit down and try to survive, you are probably a sitting duck on that wicket.
“My game plan when I went out there with Steve Hennessy was to just score runs and see if we can swing the momentum back our way and fortunate enough, we finished the day at 4/78.
In a low-scoring contest, it was this 70-run partnership that not only kept Springy in the hunt, but propelled them to premiership glory.
Ahead of Sunday, Staude told his team that it wouldn’t just happen, and the remaining 46 runs would take their best efforts.
“I said it’s definitely not over, because we still needed to bat really well,” he said.
DAY 2
When both established batters were dismissed early on day two, the Bloods had lost 3/3 and the score had fallen to 7/83 – still 41 runs needed for victory and only three wickets in hand.
The nerves from late on day one swept through the Springvale South camp once again, as Jack Wetering and Angus Cooper attempted to bring home the Bloods.
The Lakers were getting desperate, appealing for everything they possibly could and almost begging the umpires to raise the finger, but it was to no avail.
Things were going well and the pair had got the score to 101 before disaster struck as Cooper was run out for 5.
The Lynbrook players went crazy and produced arguably the loudest roar of the day, only two wickets required.
But Wetering went on to become the hero the Bloods were crying out for, scoring 24 off 47 balls and going over the top of the ring field time and time again despite nervous supporters on the sidelines.
Wetering tied scores with a square drive for four and celebrated, but the job was not done yet.
He scored a single down the ground the following ball to win the game as roars erupted from the sidelines.
Wetering dropped his bat and beat his fist on his chest.
ONE MORE TWIST?
Premiership-winning celebrations don’t come any more unusual than this one, because despite the elation for Springvale South, the game was not over yet.
With about 30 overs remaining in the day’s play, Lynbrook was clinging to one final hope of a reverse outright.
The Lakers wanted to take the final two wickets, go in and bat for perhaps 10 overs to build as good a lead as possible, before attempting to bowl out the Bloods again.
Nerves remained when Jack Wetering (24 off 47 balls) was bowled by Stephens shortly after.
“It is one thing to get the winning runs and it was pretty special, but I knew we still had a long way to go,” Staude said.
“I’d been part of the reverse outright loss 10 years ago against Cranbourne in the ones, so I had that in the back of my mind.
“It was a weird feeling hitting the winning runs, but we weren’t able to run out on the ground and cheer – we just had to keep the emotions in check a bit.”
Matt Wetering (7 not out off 52 balls) and Mohammad Mudasir Soliman Khail (1 not out off 26 balls) dug in and didn’t allow Lynbrook to take the 10th wicket, slowly taking overs out of the game.
At the 62-over mark, about 10 overs after the winning runs had been scored, Lynbrook decided to shake hands with the scoreboard reading 9/129 – the Bloods had won by one wicket.
Staude earned player of the match honours for his 40, while Jack and Matt Wetering (7 not out & 3/26 off 12 overs) could’ve also been worthy recipients.
Shariffie did everything in his power to get the Lakers over the line, taking 5/31 off 14 overs, while Jacob Stephens (3/49 off 26 overs) also toiled hard.
BROTHER BRILLIANCE
It was a special day for the Wetering/Staude brothers, with the four of them combining for two premierships.
Staude, Jack Wetering and Matt Wetering celebrated the Turf 3 flag with Springvale, before the trio headed to Coomoora Reserve to watch brother Sam Wetering win a Turf 2 flag with the Roos.
“It was good to have the three of us together for a flag again like we did the other year, and it was unreal for Jack and Matt to be out there when we hit the winning runs,” Staude said.
TURF 3 SCOREBOARD
LYNBROOK V SPRINGVALE SOUTH
Toss: Lynbrook – Bat
LYNBROOK – 1st Innings
T. Powar b M. Wetering 0
A. Naron run out (A. Read, M. Jameson) 4
S. Perera c S. Hennessy b M. Jameson 1
D. Rayaguru c S. Johnson b M. Wetering 7
J. Walia c M. Wetering b M. Jameson 66
S. D’Rozario c A. Cooper b M. Jameson 1
J. Stephens lbw M. Wetering 9
J. Kellett b A. Read 0
H. Sohal c S. Hennessy b A. Read 7
J. Walia c J. Wetering b A. Read 6
I. Shariffie not out 0
Extras (1WD, 8NB, 5LB, 8B) 22
Total: (48.1 Overs) 123
Fall of Wickets: 1-1 T. Powar, 2-4 S. Perera, 3-6 A. Naron, 4-30 D. Rayaguru, 5-35 S. D’Rozario, 6-59 J. Stephens, 7-66 J. Kellett, 8-80 H. Sohal, 9-123 J. Walia, 10-123 J. Walia.
Springvale South Bowling: M. Jameson 10-3-19-3, M. Wetering 12-2-26-3, J. Wetering 3-0-14-0, A. Read 14.1-5-20-3, A. Staude 1-0-3-0, M. M. S. Khail 5-0-20-0, J. Mackenzie 3-0-8-0.
SPRINGVALE SOUTH – 1st Innings
S. Johnson b I. Shariffie 1
A. Read b I. Shariffie 0
S. Hennessy c & b I. Shariffie 36
B. Sharp c J. Kellett b I. Shariffie 1
J. Mackenzie b J. Stephens 4
A. Staude (c) c A. Naron b J. Stephens 40
M. Jameson c & b I. Shariffie 0
A. Cooper run out (A. Naron, J. Walia) 5
J. Wetering b J. Stephens 24
M. Wetering not out 7
M. M. S. Khail not out 1
Extras (1WD, 2NB, 5LB, 3B) 11
Total: (62 Overs) 9/129
Fall of Wickets: 1-0 A. Read, 2-5 S. Johnson, 3-5 B. Sharp, 4-10 J. Mackenzie, 5-80 S. Hennessy, 6-83 M. Jameson, 7-83 A. Staude, 8-101 A. Cooper, 9-124 J. Wetering.
Lynbrook Bowling: J. Stephens 26-11-49-3, I. Shariffie 14-4-31-5, J. Walia 17-9-28-0, J. Kellett 5-2-13-0.
Springvale South won by 1 wicket.
