WANDERERS TAKE THE MONEY SHIELD ADVANCING TO BARCLAY! MONEY SHIELD
Yarrambat v North Eltham Wanderers
DVCA WEBSITE SUMMARY: North Eltham Wanderers defeated Yarrambat in the last over in a thrilling Grand Final at Ben Frilay Oval. Man of the Match was Ethan Groves who took an amazing 13 wickets.
After leading by 23 runs in the first innings, and resuming at 0/6, the Wanderers advanced safely to 0/43 as their relaxed and happy supporters rejoiced in every run before Simon Bray changed the match, with a brilliant burst. Brilliant Bray took five quick wickets to have the Wanderers in disarray at 5/62. Withstanding extreme pressure, Brett Monger and Matthew Duckworth rescued their team with a match saving 48 run 6th wicket partnership before Daniel Shaw removed Duckworth for a fine 16. At the same score, Adrian Wilson trapped Monger in front of his stumps for a valuable 26. The Wanderers were a jittery 7/110. Thirteen runs later, Shaw removed Clint Monger (3), Austin Mann was run out for 2, and finally Ethan Groves (12) was bowled by Wilson.
The Bats were on a high as they dismissed the Wanderers for 142 and in with a big chance, needing 165 off 39 overs. After a bright 30 run opening stand, a rampant Groves dismissed Bray (8), Harrington (27) and Paul Holzer (4) to leave Yarrambat a shaky 3/46. Justin Stewart joined Craig Meredith moved the score to 87 when that man again bowled Meredith for a fine 31. Groovy Groves trapped Daniel Shaw for a blurter as the Bats slumped to 5/87. The score moved to 5/100 before Groves and Jack Young had a purple patch each grabbing two wickets as the Bats lost 4/16 and were a seemingly hopeless 9/116. Scott Whitehead joined skipper Ronnie McKeown, and with intelligent and brilliant stroke play, aided by some dropped catches, brought the game to life again and in reach of an amazing win - 9/157. With only 9 runs needed off 4 balls, Whitehead hit a single as the big crowd gasped, knowing that big-hitting McKeown was on strike and very capable of scoring the required two boundaries off three balls. Bowling his 20th consecutive over, the weary Groves ran in, McKeown took a swipe and an elated Groves took his middle and leg stumps. Exhaustion turned into exhilaration as Groves catapulted into the air, having almost single-handedly bowled the Wanderers to their first Money Shield pennant.
Yarrambat had an excellent season and has a fine mix of young and experienced players that have the ability to take the next step in 2009/10 – they were oh so close this season. Simon Bray had a brilliant second half of the season and his 8 wickets in this match would normally earn him Man of the Match, but Ethan Groves emphatically earned the award with 13 wickets (6/37 and 7/70). Congratulations to Coach Richard Clifton and Alastair Mann on achieving the ultimate success with home mainly home grown talent. Nine of the team came through the juniors, whilst the other two had brothers that played junior cricket with the Wanderers. North Eltham Wanderers won 9 of their last 11 matches and thoroughly deserve to advance to Barclay Shield next season. RECENT HAPPENINGS AT THE CLUB - Ones make the Grand Final! Just I case you have not caught up with the news, NEWCC completed probably it finest ever victory on Sunday over St Francis to advance to this week’s grand final against Yarrambat at Hurstbridge. If you were there it was a sensational finish to a great game with all players contributing to the result. We had great support from many spectators and the most pleasing thing was that our supporters out numbered St Francis by about 3 to 1. If you have not seen the DVCA web site here is the text. North Eltham defeat St Francis
North Eltham scored their greatest ever victory in defeating the highly fancied St Francis of Assisi by 4 runs in a spine tingling semi final at Sycamore Reserve. Chasing an improbable 323, Akshay Naidoo and Alastair Mann provided a solid platform with a 63 run opening partnership, before Mann (21) was dismissed, then lost Jesse Smith on the same score. St Francis was on top at this stage. Peter Mann joined Naidoo and the pair added another 52 runs before Naidoo fell for a well compiled 61 with the score 4/150.
Jordan Collicoat scored a classy 48, but when Matthew Duckworth was run out for 31, with the score at 7/226, a win was seemingly out of reach of the Wanderers as they needed to score 100 runs in the last 9 overs. St Francis went on the defensive with several players on the boundary, but canny batting from Clint Monger, scoring at a run a ball, and a brutal Jack Young gave the Wanderers a sniff of victory. The target became 65 runs off 29 balls, but when Young (30 odd 18 balls) was dismissed at 8/267, St Francis had the upper hand. Enter Austin Mann. Mann and Monger attacked the bowling and the game was within reach of the Wanderers when they needed 30 runs off 21 balls. In a tense finish, the Wanderers scored the winning runs off the second last over in front of 150 delirious supporters.
The Wanderers had many heroes, but special mention to the unbeaten Clint Monger (42 off 41 balls) and Austin Mann (25 off 11 balls) who smashed their team to a victory, under extreme pressure, in a victory that will never be forgotten at North Eltham. Michael Cocks returned the best bowling figures with 4/84.
See you at Hurstbridge next Saturday for the final chapter.
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