By Nick Creely
An incredible 12-month period of success has elevated to new heights, with the Cranbourne Cricket Club tasting sweet victory at the Cricket Victoria Regional Big Bash at the MCG against GCA’s East Belmont on Wednesday morning.
Some famous names, such as Ponting, Warne, McGrath and Gilchrist have all had their time on the G’, and now it’s time to marvel at the exploits of some of the names the powerful club at Casey Fields possess.
It all began back in December with 16 teams, from each cricketing region across Victoria competing in a round-robin to decide Victoria’s best country team.
And it all came down to two evenly matched teams, one from the other side of town.
East Belmont elected to bat first, as the MCG bathed in sunshine on a perfect Melbourne morning.
After a solid start to their innings, the evergreen Matt Chasemore drew first blood, trapping a hapless Andrew Baars (6) in front LBW, leaving the Lions 1/25 off four overs.
Then moments later, Cameron Kelly snared the dangerous Sean O’Neill (25), who skipped out to strong start, but was caught-behind.
It was slow going for the Lions, who looked to build and maintain a partnership, but every time some momentum swung their way, the Eagles were able to swoop in and grab a vital wicket.
The Eagles kept them to just 107, with Steven Spoljaric (2/15), Matt Chasemore (1/13), Cameron Kelly (2/19 and man-of-the-match), Jakeb McVicar (1/38) and Stuart Plunkett (2/5) among the wickets.
And the Eagles started fairly slowly in their chase, reaching 1/30 off seven overs, before Brandon Tyzzer (29) fell with the score at 2/59 off 11 overs.
Enter the legendary duo of Spoljaric and Chasemore, who accelerated for the Eagles, getting them to 3/96 before Chasemore was caught off the bowling of Chris Williams for 39 off 35 balls.
And it came down to the last three overs, with the Eagles needing 10 to win – the skipper Spoljaric then blasted his way home to glory in another commanding and match-winning performance, smashing the ball behind-square for victory.
The Eagles skipper was over the moon with his side’s performance, saying it really is only the beginning for his club’s quest for glory this season.
“We know we are very dangerous side – it’s great for the club – it’s one of three trophies we will hopefully win this year,” he said post-match.
“The wicket was a bit slow, but we are used to that where we come from – we’re all very happy.
“The chance to play out here was great, everybody wanted to play – we didn’t need to spell out where we were, it’s the biggest ground in the world.
“Tactically, we were much harder to hit – it favoured our attack and our game on the day, I suppose.”
Cranbourne now sets its sights on Wednesday 22 February’s DDCA Twenty20 decider against Buckley Ridges, as well as the Turf 1 competition, where they are looking at back-to-back flags.
