Roos skip their way to Premiership Glory
Saturday we ventured to Ron Evans oval in Portarlington for the BPCA A Grade Grand Final that saw us take on Ocean Grove. With mother nature wanting to make her presence felt, we finally got some play after an hour and half delay. Losing the toss, and 24 overs lost for the day, Ocean Grove won the toss and elected to bowl first. Opening with Ned Cooper and Jacimovic it wasn’t the best start for the lads as Jacimovic departed early for three after being caught out, which brought Sam Weight to the crease. It was important that Sam stayed at the crease and the pair manage to build a decent partnership, and that they certainly did. They batted brilliantly, both showing great patience along with some great cricket shots, however it was Sam that fell next after being caught out for 20 and the score became 2-75, a partnership worth 68. However the pressure of Grand Finals can be underestimated and a collapse occurred with Dittloff (0) Kerr (2) Norman (4) and Simon Umbers (2) and the score quickly fell to 6-117 but thanks to Brett Venables the pair saw the day out and the overnight score became 6-138. The game was certainly in the balance when the boys turned up Sunday to bat the remaining 24 overs, and its certainly funny how momentum can change. A defensive shot back to the bowler from Ned Cooper saw him end up with a boundary as a throw back to the stumps to the batters end where Ned had not left the crease managed to ricochet off the stumps and ran off to the boundary for four. Then another similar circumstance happened a few days later and then all of a sudden the momentum shifted our way. Venables added a very valuable partnership with Ned, adding 31 himself, whilst hanging around long enough to see Ned reach triple figures, before he was out adjudged lbw. Ned finally fell for a sensational 127 as he was caught out a few overs shy of the end of the innings. It was a great display that displayed maturity, patience and skill. We managed to bat out 23 overs before we declared an over to go for 9dec 221.
With 49 overs to Bat, Ocean Grove required 222 to win and we decided to open up with the usual suspects Dale Kerr and Dylan Taylor. Both bowled very well and it was Dale that struck first as he sent the stumps flying and Paul Jubber was on his way, bringing the score to 1-10. Dylan then thought he would join the party when he got Sam Jubber out caught for 18. With the score at 2-33, we then kept the foot down and before you knew it the boys were well on top as the Ocean Grove top order crumbled under immense pressure from the roos, with ball and in the field and they soon saw themselves at 8-86. With Partnerships of 19 and 55 for the ninth and tenth wickets making the scoreboard look half respectable, it sure was a comprehensive victory as we bowled our way to a 61 run victory bowling Ocean Grove for 160.
Dale Kerr finished the year with another three scalps claiming figures 17-6-3-48, Dylan was the leading wicket taker with 15-1-4-51. Venables chipped in with 2-21 off 9 while Cian claimed the other one with 1-18 off 2.
Ned Cooper was deservingly the winner of the Man Of The Match with his Brilliant 127.
A Fantastic result for the club and the community and the club would like to thank everyone for their support on the weekend and throughout the year. That’s it now for the season, look forward to seeing you all around the club again next season as we strive back to back.