By Tyler Lewis
The tie in sport is one of regular debate.
But the reality is – and as peculiar as it sounds – there is always a winner, and a loser, in a tie.
On Saturday in the WGCA District competition Officer was the winner and Upper Beaconsfield was the loser, despite the result being locked at 96 apiece at the conclusion of play.
The Bullants sent the Maroons in and had the top order back in the sheds in the blink of an eye.
The dangerous bats for the Upper Beaconsfield side had all packed away the pads in the early stages of the innings, when the Ants had the Maroons 5/27.
The tail-end of Upper Beaconsfield gave itself something to defend, with numbers seven, eight, 10, 11 and extras all making more than the top six.
Kyle Gibbs top-scored for the Maroons with 18 from 57, while number 11 Andrew McDonald crunched a clutch 17.
Youngster Cooper Pursell had the ball on a string, with 2/7 from six overs.
He wasn’t alone, however, with each of the Bullants bowlers capturing a wicket.
While 96 appears to be a lacklustre chase, the Bullants have been known to make a game of it. Only two weeks ago the Officer side crawled over the line with one wicket in hand chasing Devon Meadows’ 86.
With 20 at the top from Riley Clark, the Bullants were away, but a middle order collapse set up an exhilarating finish.
The Bullants were 4/70, with just 27 runs for victory before losing 3/4.
A 15 run stand etched the home side to 7/89, before it lost a further 3/7.
Leigh Boyle – with the two most important runs of his career – was run out after he and Jonty Bennie tied the score.
Officer captain Brett Monagle spoke to the Gazette of the result, admitting it was a rare feeling.
“It was a bit different to be fair,” he said.
“Normally when you win a flag you think of the whole ‘someone hitting the winning runs’ and you all run onto the oval or vice versa when you take the winning wicket.
“It has taken a little bit longer to sink in that we won on a tie, I guess we would’ve much preferred to win it, rather than tie it.
“I think as well it is a bit of a reward for the season, we finished on top of the ladder, I think maybe a win clear, so I think it was a result for the hard-work we have put in for the last seven months.
“That makes it a bit easier to take that it was a tie, but still a bit different to an outright win.”
It’s not every finals series a premiership side has winning batting totals of 9/87 and 10/96, but Monagle says that his side has been proof of how difficult low totals can be to reel in.
“I think the target in our head, considering our semi final was pretty similar to that, we knew if we got 96 that we would technically win,” he said.
“But you never hope chasing a small total that you would have to use all 10 wickets up.,
“I think once we got to seven or eight down, we just thought let’s get at least to 96 and tie it.
“Ideally we can chase those totals a bit easier, but I think that’s the finals pressure, everyone knows those small totals – especially in finals – can sometimes be the harder ones to chase.
‘We have proven in the last three weeks that they can be.”
Monagle himself was the top scorer for the Bullants with a vital 22 from 52 deliveries, but he revealed the nerves really only kicked in when his partners were coming and going.
“Walking out there I felt not too bad, copped a few good sledges from the Upper Beac boys to begin the day, I think that made me switch on a bit more,” he said.
“Knowing the batters we had left to come I wasn’t too stressed coming in. I think it was 2/20 or maybe 3/30 odd, I wasn’t too stressed going to the crease, especially with Ash (Smith) – who is our key bat – at the other end.
“But as the game went on, I think I knew a fair bit relied on me to get a bit of a score.”
Officer Cricket Club is now back into the WGCA Premier Division for the first time in exactly a decade.
