The soul searching has begun at Werribee after an unfathomable exit from the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association north-west group finals race.
The Tigers needed only to tie with lowly Coburg in a last-round one-dayer at Coburg City Oval on Saturday to book their place in the finals and were odds-on to do at least that when faced with the tiny target of 111.
No one at the ground thought a Tigers loss would be a consideration when they strode to 5-100 but what happened next left everyone in a state of shock.
The Tigers suffered a crazy batting collapse, losing their last five wickets for eight runs to be all out for 108 and on the finals scrap heap.
It was similar to the batting collapse by the Tigers in the final round last season – except that the side was sitting pretty on top of the ladder and guaranteed a finals berth.
This year’s team was ripe for the picking in sixth place and is now guaranteed a summer of deep thinking about where its group of players is heading.
“It’s not a great way to go down, especially with what was on the line,” Tigers captain Shaun Dean said.
“It was a pretty sad and disappointing end to the season.”
Coburg batted first on a pitch that greatly assisted the bowlers and could muster only 9-111 off 45 overs.
There was plenty of grass on the wicket to favour the seam bowlers and the likes of Heath Pritchard (1-14), Jonathan Burton (2-14) and Stephen Plumridge (1-12) revelled in the conditions. Thomas Duxson extracted enough spin out of the deck to finish with 3-16.
Matt Dean (12) and Tim O’Brien (32) ate up the bulk of the required runs by compiling 47 before the loss of the first Tiger wicket, but the conditions made it hard for batsmen to settle.
Wickets fell in clusters, with the next three after O’Brien’s departing for just 18 runs to put the Tigers at 4-65. A steadying partnership between Adam Duxson (24) and Chris Hennessy (9) seemed to be just the tonic for the Tigers.
But with the finish line in sight, the boys in the yellow and black helmets got stage fright.
“We panicked under pressure,” Dean said. “The wicket was very ordinary, as you can see by the scores – it was green and had a hell of a lot in it for the bowlers, but there was no excuse.
“At 5-100, you should get there, but then one wicket falls and another wicket falls and for the guys at the bottom of the order, it was too much.”
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