By JARROD POTTER
BACK-TO-BACK indoor national championship wins are pretty sweet off the bat for Dani Montague.
Montague, 24, from Cranbourne North, featured in Victoria’s continued domination of the indoor game in recent seasons.
Victoria 62 (2) defeated South Australia 51 (2) in the finale after Victoria’s openers blitzed 27 together, but by and large it was a tournament for the bowlers and fielders alike.
“It was pretty good, second year in a row we’ve won,” Montague said. “Lost the first two games – we were ready, but we weren’t ready in a way – so after those two games we won every game after that.
“Seven games in a row at the tournament and it was just a good team week overall.”
There wasn’t much off the blade for the Victorians, but the side stuck it out to grind out the nail-biting, low-scoring triumph.
“Resilience was one of our main things – which is what we always say,” Montague said. “We just gelled in the field and that’s what made us work.
“We had some batting stand outs during the week, but not really in the finals as it was basically a bowling and fielding game.”
For now it’s back to the Cranbourne indoor cricket side for Montague before the weather improves and she can return to the outside Victorian Premier Cricket team at Box Hill.
In the last round of the season, Montague took the last two wickets to restrict Dandenong to a draw and sneak past them to qualify for finals.
After that, her Mustangs charged home to beat Essendon-Maribyrnong Park in the semi-final before winning their fourth flag in a row – taking the 2015/16 flag with a five-run win over Melbourne University.
“They (Dandenong) needed one run, and I didn’t want to bowl – but myself and one of our 15-year-old bowlers had overs left – she got one then bowled out and I got one in each over,” Montague said. “We shouldn’t have even been there (the grand final), should not have won that Dandy game – taking 8/16 … 6/1 at the end.
“It was interesting.”
