GRAND FINAL SCORES BELOW.
TARNEIT has one hand on the Williamstown and District Cricket Association Bgrade matting flag. The other has its fingers nervously crossed for no dramatic turnaround on the second weekend.
The boys from Arndell Park claimed a first innings lead over Melton Centrals on an enthralling weekend at Featherbrook Oval in Point Cook.
Tarneit player-president Sandeep Singh said a mountain of work was still to be done for his club to claim a historic first XI title in its inaugural season.
“We’re not celebrating. The job is definitely not done, there’s two more days and it’s cricket, anything can happen. It’s great that we’re in a stronger position than our opponents and that will build the pressure on them.”
Tarneit won the toss and sent Centrals in but their hopes of a quick kill were sadly mistaken as the underdogs powered to an intimidating 242 off 72.1 overs.
“We sent them in because we chase better than we defend,” Singh said. “It was definitely a big score to chase, in a grand final especially. When they got to 242, I wasn’t happy to tell you the truth.
“We’ve played them before and they have not made 100, but they did it and played well.”
It could have been worse for Tarneit if not for veteran spinner Raghunandan Pallath – the tricky left-armer finished with the great figures of 5-51 off 19.1 overs.
Pallath was the man to not only break the partnership, but also clog up the runs from one end. “He bowled brilliantly,” Singh said.
“He blocked up one end and not only kept the runs down, but got wickets too.”
Tarneit marched confidently to the target five dow, finishing day two on 5-259 – a lead of 17 and with plenty of batting in the sheds.
The order of the day when play resumes on Saturday is to bat and bat and bat.
“We want to take a big lead into the second innings,” Singh said. “Don’t give them a chance to get back into the game.”
Deepak Sharma (102) and Kamalpreet Singh (30) will resume their unbroken 65-run stand.
Sharma opened the batting on Saturday evening and batted the full 84 overs to stumps on Sunday in a herculean performance.
“He is there to support the other guys, block up an end and build partnerships,” Singh said.
“It was a brilliant effort. His job is not done and there’s quite a few more overs to come.”
GRAND FINALS
A1 turf: Williamstown Imperials 142 (O Alsop 42 D Slattery 38) v West Newport 9-228
(O Alsop 4-70 P Hudson 2-45).
A2 turf: Footscray ANA 244 (D Veteha 45
N Lawriw 39 SA Kukucka 35 J Hines 33 J Wills 29) v Melton Centrals 3-82 (J Wills 2-17).
B1: Turf: Grand United 7-185 (B Bennett 2-11 L Gretgrix 2-12) v West Newport.
B2 turf: Melton South 70 v Melton Centrals 226 (D Cooper 3-27 T Batten 3-50 M Garwood 2-42) and 9/106 (M Truswell 3-11 G Parker 2-18 M Garwood 2-18).
C composite: Grand United 358 (A Farrier 5-60 P Cambasis 3-63) v Point Cook 1-15.
B grade matting: Tarneit 5-259 (D Sharma 102no C Kavanagh 52 S Singh 39 K Singh 30no) v Melton Centrals 242 (R Pallath 5-51 MS Buttar 2-40).
C grade matting: Wyndhamvale 226 (J Campion 44 C Plummer 42 DG McCarthy 37) v Tarneit 4-73.
