WHO on earth is Andrew Ford? It is a mystery for some clubs in the Williamstown and District Cricket Association A1 turf competition.
The long and the short of it is that Ford is an English tourist who escaped the winter chill back home and wanted to play cricket on his Australian holiday.
So he hooked up with Wyndhamvale in January and, after one matting game, has been a permanent fixture in the first XI side ever since.
On Sunday, Ford produced a match-winning 96 in the Falcons three-wicket semi-final victory over West Newport at Loft Reserve, and he will get the chance to play in a grand final.
CLICK HERE for our picture gallery of the Wyndhamvale v West Newport semi-final.
The Falcons grand final opponents, minor premiers Williamstown Imperials, admit to little knowledge of Ford.
“We haven’t seen him bat,” Imperials top order batsman Daniel Slattery said.
“We’ll have to figure him out on the run I guess.
“We played them earlier in the year, but they’re a different side now to what they were then, so we actually don’t know much about them to be honest, and likewise, they haven’t seen us.
“It’s a little bit unusual going into a grand final.”
Ford has done what few imports do and that is to figure out the different playing conditions almost instantly.
He has made scores of 75, 49, 35 and now 96 in his first four digs in the first XI.
“To come across the way he has on Australian pitches, it’s absolutely phenomenal,” Falcons playing president Chris Plummer said.
“The guy has one of the best straight drives I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t try anything silly, he just sits there and waits and once the ball is in his zone, he’ll hit it.”
The falcons were set a massive 279 for victory and Ford combined with Lance Macdougall (40) to bite off a large chunk of the runs required. With 100 to get at better than five an over, Andrew Mundey’s 49 was critical, as was a late flurry of 17 from Liam McLaughlin.
A tough as nails teenager, McLaughlin was in doubt heading into the semi-final.
“The bloke fractured his jaw during the week in a training mishap,” Plummer said.
“He top edged a pull shot that went under his helmet and cracked his jaw. He wanted to play and he was absolutely brilliant. His first two balls he hit went for four.”
The Falcons will meet Imperials in a six-day grand final starting Saturday.
WDCA SEMI-FINALS
A1 turf:
Williamstown Imperials 9-285 (G Robson 63 J McCutcheon 60 J Haines 40 A Royston 38 D Slattery 35; T Sangha 2-56 H Harb 2-65 S Mansoor 2-68) d Williamstown Colts 149 (T Sangha 59 M Darmanin 33 A Harb 26; G Robson 5-44).
West Newport 8-278 lt Wyndhamvale 7-280 (A Ford 96 A Mundey 49 L Macdougall 40).
B1 turf:
Williamstown Imperials 151 (S Dyson 5-38 S Brown 2-26 T Stanchinotti 2-34) lt Williamstown Congs 5-159 (N Callas 75no). Deer Park Ardeer 129 (M Beljac 43 G Bennett 36) and 4-51 d St. Johns 74 (R Suvada 5-37 R Bonnici 3-16) and 102 (R Bonnici 7-13 R Suvada 2-45).
B2 turf:
Melton South 157 (L Collins 5-22 A Collins 3-38) and 5-122 (L Collins 4-47) d Newport-Digman 126 (A Collins 58; T Batten 5-41 G Parker 4-20).
Gellibrand 7-142 (S Buttigieg-Clarke 82) d Wyndhamvale 138 (D Croft 5-48 A Fine 3-16 J Bulbeck 2-27).
C composite:
Tarneit 171 lt Grand United 254.
Melton Centrals 6-174 (A Grioli 3-35) d Point Cook 165 (N Jayasinghe 33).
