By David Nagel
Pakenham’s dream of a first CCCA Premier Division flag since 2018/19 has been broken harshly by Cardinia after the Bulls dished out a semi-final thrashing of the Lions at Toomuc Reserve.
The old aphorism that “practice makes perfect” proved correct for Cardinia (9/371) opener Morteza Ali (134) after his blazing century guided the Bulls to their third-consecutive grand final.
Ali – who had made just 208 runs at an average of 17 this season – put ladder-leaders Pakenham (179) to the sword with one of the great semi-final hundreds in the competitions long and celebrated history.
He crunched 18 fours and three sixes during his epic knock that took place after the Lions won the toss and sent the visiting Bulls in to bat.
Ali was 84 not out when opening partner Alex Nooy (10) lost his wicket in the 23rd over on Saturday, with their opening partnership of 97 putting the Lions on the back foot
Ali, who remarkably was out with the score at 3/155, passed the baton to his skipper Jake Prosser (63) who continued the mighty onslaught.
“We knew it was going to happen from Morteza at some point,” Prosser said after the Bulls 192-run victory.
“He faces that many balls; he says “practice, practice, practice, then sleep”…so he’s someone that loves his cricket.
“It was probably one of the best knocks I’ve ever seen, a few of us said that, and he just lives and breathes his cricket.
“You can’t get the bat out of his hands, and on Sunday, when I threw him the ball, we couldn’t get that out of his hands as well.”
Prosser cracked seven boundaries in his innings before departing the scene after a 62-run partnership with Leigh Paterson (50).
Paterson and Lachlan Volpe (62 not out) then drove the final nail in the coffin, putting on 51 runs in just seven overs.
Volpe finished the Bulls’ innings in style, hitting Jason Williams (3/98) for four with the second last ball of the day before pulling the last ball over square leg for six!
James Close (3/28) took bowling honours for the Lions, who were never in the hunt on Sunday despite a fighting 74 from Rob Elston and a hard-hitting 40 from Nick Sadler.
Prosser (3/18) and Volpe (3/55) backed up their half-centuries from day one with impressive three-wicket hauls.
“We know we’ve been capable of doing that, but we haven’t been able to put it altogether like that for a long time,” Prosser said.
“I was just really, really impressed with how everyone went about it.”
TOORADIN (105) V KOOWEERUP (6/106)
Ten seconds short of an hour!
That’s the passage of time it took for Kooweerup (6/106) to book a remarkable twelfth grand final appearance in 15 years with a four-wicket victory over Tooradin (105) on Sunday.
Resuming on 4/28, with Michael Giles (3), Gamini Kumara (0), Cody Miller (0) and Mitch Davey (6) all back in the sheds, the Demons rode a quick-fire 37 from the dangerous Chris Bright to this year’s big dance.
Tooradin opened day-two with Dylan Sutton (2/17 off 7) bowling from the tennis courts end and Kallan Braid-Ball (2/32) from the social club side of the ground.
Bright was impressive, whacking the second ball of the second over straight over Aaron Avery’s head at mid-on for four.
He then kept busy, and after three overs on day two the Demons were scoring freely and looking good at 4/41.
Then came the biggest moment of the second day’s play.
Facing Braid-Ball, Bright edged an attempted late-cut straight into the waiting gloves of up-to-the-stump Tooradin keeper Ben Parrott…but the appeal was turned down by umpire Peter Madden.
At 4/47, and with just 58 runs now to play with, Tooradin skipper Cal O’Hare was forced to take a risk and bring Brad Butler (2/43 off 10) into the attack…the quickest bowler in the CCCA.
Bright relished the rise in pace, playing a magnificent cut-shot for four, then a late-cut off the very next ball to take 10 runs from the over.
After an entertaining first 15 minutes the Demons were 4/57, having added 29 runs in the opening five overs of play.
Butler almost had his man in his next over, but an edge from Bright flew straight between Parrott and O’Hare at first slip.
Bright then pumped Braid-Ball over mid-wicket for four, leaving the Demons 4/72 – after 28 minutes and eight overs – and seemingly headed for certain victory.
But Butler had other ideas, with O’Hare taking a sharp chance off Adam McMaster with the last ball of the ninth over, before Bright welcomed Bailey Lownds (0/9) into the attack by launching him on to the roof of the visitors’ change-rooms.
Bright looked set for a match-winning half-century, but played across the line of a Butler thunderbolt in the 11th over of the day to see the score at 6/79 – still requiring 27 runs for victory.
Luke McMaster (30 not out), who returned on day two after retiring hurt with severe cramps on day-one, then took to Butler in the 13th over of the day to basically assure victory.
McMaster edged one over slips for four, before some great running from his partner Steve Dillon (6 not out) turned a certain two into three.
50 minutes gone, nine off the over, 6/91…just 15 required for victory.
Just six minutes later, Luke McMaster played the shot of the day, smacking Butler over mid-off with a cracking lofted drive.
He then levelled the scores with a delicate late-cut off Braid-Ball, before at 1.59pm…10 seconds short of two o’clock, he called Dillon through for the winning single after an inside edge to backward square leg.
On Saturday it was Jess Mathers (4/39 off 23), Luke McMaster (3/46 off 27) and Adam McMaster (2/15) that bowled the Demons into a winning position.
“It was one of those nerve-racking games that we seem to play in a fair bit, but I think the best side won overall, we performed very well on day one,” said Kooweerup skipper Giles.
“To bowl them out for 100, after losing the toss and being asked to field, we’ll take that every day of the week.
“Our batting was a bit shaky yesterday afternoon, but ultimately we got the job done.”
Kooweerup will now host Cardinia in the CCCA Premier Division grand final commencing at 1pm this Saturday.
