By David Nagel
“We’re going nowhere.”
Reigning premier Cardinia (8/110) has sent a blunt message out to premiership front-runners Tooradin and Kooweerup after the Bulls survived an epic semi-final against Pakenham (109) at Toomuc Reserve.
The message wasn’t so much ‘Look, out, we’re in red-hot form and we’re coming to get you’…but more…’The big stage is here and this is when we play our best cricket.’
The Bulls were back to their defensive best with the ball, applying some huge pressure on the Lions who batted themselves into a hole.
Rob Elston (25) and Chris Smith (24) gave the Lions a solid start, and Zac Chaplin (27) top-scored through the middle-to-late overs, but the normally free-scoring home-side was always behind the run-rate.
At different stages the Lions were 4/68 off 27, and 6/86 off 34, before being bundled out for 109.
The Bulls’ bowlers were all effective, with skipper Jake Prosser (3/7) and leggie Lachlan Volpe (2/16) stealing a bulk of the limelight.
Lions’ openers Patrick Lawson (3/16) and Tom Brennan (2/33) then sent several scares through the Bulls’ camp, being at one stage 5/42, but steadying innings from Matt Welsh (24) – who was dropped early – Jacobus Hynes (19) and Leigh Paterson (15) saw the visitors across the line with 19 balls to spare.
Prosser was thrilled to progress to next week’s preliminary final after surprising the in-form Lions in a classic finals contest.
“Obviously Pakenham was one of the in-form teams in the comp, winning nine of their last 10 or something like that, but we were confident, that’s never been an issue with us,” Prosser said.
“We beat them their earlier this season, but in the end this one was just a bloody good finals game.
“It was low scoring, there was plenty of pressure on the ground, it was just a great game of cricket to be involved in.”
Pakenham had clearly the better form heading in, meaning Prosser and his side needed to bring their absolute best pressure and commitment to the table.
“Definitely that was the plan with our bowling and our fielding, and we executed that perfectly, but not our batting, we were pretty ordinary in that department,” he explained.
“In the field everything we tried to do came off.
“We wanted a low run-rate, and we got that, and Doigy (Dwayne Doig) and Bake’s (Jack Bacon) were terrific up front.
“Probably the one thing we spoke about after 40 overs was that Pakenham never really pushed for singles, and that’s something that we wanted to focus on.
“It wasn’t easy, because they bowled well, and in the end it was just a bit of luck that we were in front at the end of the game.”
While Cardinia do progress…its batting form is a concern, but is something Prosser believes can be turned around with some hard work.
“A couple of us have been getting good nuts and getting out, but mainly it’s been poor shot selection that’s been getting most of us out,” Prosser explained.
“It’s shot selection, simple as that.
“We’ve been working on it, and working on it, and I tell you what, if it comes off over the next two weeks it’s the perfect time to come good.
“But we need to do it, not talk about it, because we’re up against a good unit and there are no second chances now.”
While his team is not in the same sort of form that sort it career away to last year’s premiership, Prosser believes there are still certain qualities that his side has in abundance.
And big games, on the biggest stage…bring those unique qualities to the fore.
“I think that’s when our side is at its best, when we have to win games and we really focus in and play for each other,” Prosser said.
“I think we can get a bit complacent when we play just your average game, but when it’s all on the line…we’re firing.
“We like to look each other in the eye before the game.
“We say that at the end of the day we need to look at each other in the eye again, and I don’t want the boys looking at each other and thinking they could have done more.
“We have to put it all on the line, and that’s what we’ll do against Kooweerup this week.”
While the Bulls progress, the Lions are left to lick their wounds after a strange season where they started slowly, losing their first three games, before winning nine of their last 10 to qualify for finals.
They looked brilliant at times, and the form team of the competition, but the Bulls’ pressure exposed the Lions in their biggest game of the season.