A THRILLING climax is on the cards in the Williamstown and District Cricket Association’s marathon six-day A1 turf grand final between Wyndhamvale Falcons and Williamstown Imperials.
“We’ve lost a day and a half to the weather and we’re still going to get a result,” Imperials batsman Daniel Slattery enthused.
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Last weekend saw both sides land significant blows. There were only a relatively small amount of overs bowled, but enough to see the game tighten considerably.
The Falcons landed the first punch, securing a lead of 85 on first innings with players of both sides doffing their caps to Falcons import Andrew Ford, who made 112 of his side’s 244, ably supported by Lee Veal (62).
The Imperials encountered too many speed humps in their first dig, being all out for 159, but the Falcons’ stronghold on the game loosened slightly on a damp fourth day. They slumped to 4-29 with danger men Ford and Lance Macdougall back in the pavilion before Andrew Mundey and Adam Moscatiello went to work to steady the ship.
The Falcons have their noses in front with a 168-run lead. Having led on first innings, they do not have to force the issue.
“Our goal is to bat as long as we can,” Falcons all-rounder Ryan Radford said.
“We’ll try and make it as hard as possible. Any lead over 230 or 240, we’ll be confident of defending it. You back yourself in no matter what the situation.”
The Imperials want six wickets and want them fast. Slattery is confident of the quality in his side batting to chase down any total with plenty of time still remaining in the game. “It’s in the balance. There’s still two full days, so there’s enough time. We’ve batted well all year so we’re happy to go out and chase whatever they set us.”
WDCA
A1 turf: Williamstown Imperials 159 (D Slattery 33 A Royston 26 J Styles 3-33 L Macdougall 3-35) v Wyndhamvale 244 (A Ford 112 L Veal 62 B Slattery 3-22 G Robson 3-46 M Craig 2-34) and 4-83
B1 turf: Deer Park Ardeer 306 (G Bennett 97 M Szulikowski 50 M Beljac 40 P Tawaf 34 S Brown 3-46 C Tucker 2-18 S Dyson 2-31 T Stanchinotti 2-93) d Williamstown Congs 81 (R Suvada 4-32 J Bonnici 3-22 R Bonnici 2-19) and 146 (M Leach 65no R Suvada 5-75 R Bonnici 3-30)
B2 turf: Melton South 118 (D Grero 39 D Croft 5-66 R Bolton 2-9 A Fine 2-20) and 5-92 (D Croft 4-32) v Gellibrand 389 (S Buttigieg-Clarke 164 C Kennedy 78 J Bulbeck 33 D Croft 30 A Gusic 5-58 B Landers 2-51 D Grero 2-67) and 263 (D Croft 84 M Taylor 40 C Kennedy 27)
C composite: Melton Centrals 108 (M Konjevic 4-30 S Najdek 3-21 W Donaldson 2-26) and 5-103 (M Konjevic 2-23) v Grand United 90 A grade matting: Caroline Springs 158 (C Viola 58 T Blackman 39) and 291 (G O’Toole 72 V Sohi 46 M Psaila 45 N Kashyap 36 T Chhimwal 26) d Melton Centrals 109 (V Sohi 7-29 N Kashyap 2-35) and 159 (V Sohi 3-26 I Shattock 2-6 M Kannambra 2-15)
B grade matting: Caroline Springs 442 (J Forbes-Anthony 99no N Vulic 84 R Shankar 73 D Le-Paez 61 P Singh 27) d Williamstown Imperials 137 (N Vulic 2-4 M Rahman 2-29 W Jaensch 2-29 G Gray 2-30)
C grade matting: Grand United 437 (J Ralph 178 C Metcher 71 J Edwards 71 MC Dyke 36 T Ralph 27 C Amla 4-69 S Sachdev 2-61) v Williamstown Colts 202 (S Mahendru 90 P Bordoloi 25 BJ Bostock 5-20 D Sutherland 2-27) and 1-9
