The old-adage that semi-finals are harder to win than grand finals – well it could have never rung louder than the startling results that graced us on Saturday.
Cranbourne, who has been running high after all-rounder Peter Sweeney picked up the Gartside Medal, faced Heinz Southern Districts (HSD) at Casey Fields.
Heinz, who has had to scrap all-season long to make a finals spot, had its back against the wall in an uphill battle.
The Eagles won the toss and elected to bat and opener Matthew Collett found himself heading back to the pavilion earlier than he would have expected falling for zero.
Triyan De Silva defiantly had his tail up when he then dismissed Brad Stephens for two. Sweeney was brought to the crease putting on a very handy 60-run partnership with opener Dean McDonell.
When McDonell fell for 20, leaving Cranbourne at 3/79, the runs dried up and the wickets continued to tumble.
A Sweeney double-act was required from Peter and Michael to help bump up the target, but Michael found himself heading back to the pavilion for 36.
When Michael Sweeney fell the score was 4/155 causing the wheels to drop off. The last six wickets fell for just 29 runs ending Cranbourne’s innings on 184 after 45 overs.
Tryian De Silva finished with the magnificent figures of 5/35 to limit the Eagles’ score.
Heinz would have been hoping for a reset button when they went out to bat.
Brent Patterson saw himself heading back to the sheds for one and when Glenn Hamilton (8) was dismissed, leaving the score at 2/6, panic stations would have been kicking in.
The innings went from bad to worse when Ethan French found himself short of the crease after some flash work from Dilusha Jayaratne.
The wicket brought Tryian to the crease with the result looking null and void in Cranbourne’s favour.
But Triyan and Kevin Seth (58) produced something quite remarkable, putting on a 157-run partnership to write themselves into HSD folklore.
De Silva was all class, making an unbeaten 106 from 88 balls which included 13 fours.
Heinz won by six wickets with four overs to spare on a special day for the boys from Reedy Reserve.
In the other semi-final, Parkfield played host to the Parkmore Pirates with Parkfield winning the toss and elected to bat first.
Opener Matthew Goodier couldn’t capitalise on his stellar season falling for zero.
After the dismissal of Goodier the innings continued to unravel for the home side.
Pirates bowler Bradley Vantwest was the pick of the bowlers taking 2/20 from his seven overs.
Parkfield finished its innings on 8/144 after 45 overs.
Parkmore couldn’t have asked for an easier chase with the Pirates only losing the solitary wicket of Ammar Bajwa for 20.
The task was left up to Jaime (43) and Johann Brohier (80) to get their side home, with they completed with ease.
Parkmore booked its spot into a grand-final with a nine wicket-win over Parkfield.
The surprise semi-final results set up a mouth-watering grand final clash between third and fourth from the regular season.
Parkmore and Heinz face-off at Hallam Recreation Reserve on Saturday.
CRANBOURNE (1) v HEINZ SOUTHERN DISTRICTS (4)
CRANBOURNE
D McDonell c Weeraratne b Hamilton 20
M Collett b K Seth 0
B Stephens c B Patterson b T De Silva 2
P Sweeney c Weeraratne b De Silva 80
M Sweeney c Patterson b Jansen 36
D Jayaratne c&b De Silva 1
C Kelly run out ( T De Silva, D Weerartatne) 2
P Boyal b T De Silva 4
T Fathers c &b Seth 8
M Kelly c C Hookey b De Silva 1
B Hookey not out 1
Extras (nb2,w24,b0,lb2) 28
Total (45.0 overs ) 184
Fall of wickets: 1, 19, 79, 155, 162, 165, 168, 180, 182, 184.
Bowling: K Seth 7-0-2-26, T De Silva 7-0-5-35, J Margenberg 12-2-0-32 , R Patterson 3-0-0-27, G Hamilton 12-1-1-39, L Jansen 4-0-1-23.
HEINZ SOUTHERN DISTRICT
B Patterson b Fathers 1
G Hamilton b Boyal 8
L Jansen c Collett b Fathers 4
E French run out (D Jayaratne, Collette ) 0
T De Silva not out 106
K Seth not out 58
Extras (nb 0,w5,b3,lb2)
Total (41.2 overs) 4/187
Fall of wickets: 1, 6, 6, 30.
Bowling: M Kelly 5-1-0-15, T Fathers 7-3-2-27, P Boyal 7-1-1-31, B Hookey 5-0-0-28, P Sweeney 11.2-2-0-40, C Kelly 4-0-0-24, M Sweeney 2-0-0-17.
Heinz Southern Districts won.
PARKFIELD (2) v PARKMORE (3)
PARKFIELD
M Goodier b 0
E Mayadunne c 14
R Payne st 30
T D’souza c,28
A Stubbs run out 3
S Cannon run out 30
Z Chanel c 1
S Kahawatte c 19
D Malalasekera not out 3
S Cooray not out 2
Extras (nb3,w9,b2,lb0) 14
Total ( 45 overs) 8/144
Fall of wickets: 0, 19, 76, 79, 90, 90, 95, 139, 147.
Bowling: B Vantwest 7-2-2-20, A Nash 7-1-0-27, V Muruhesapillai 4-1-0-11, A Bajwa 12-4-2-27, V Damodaran 3-0-0-12, M Fonseka 8-1-1-29, N Kumar 4-0-1-16.
PARKMORE
J Brohier not out 43
A Bajwa c, b Chanel 20
J Brohier not out 80
Extras: (nb1 ,w3,b0,lb0) 4
Total (37.1 overs) 1/147
Fall of wicket: 26.
Bowling: Z Chanel 6-0-1-29, M Goodier 9.1-1-0-31, T D’Souza 9-1-0-19, S Cannon 3-0-0-7, N Jeffery 6-0-0-33, D Malalasekera 2-0-0-28.
