By JARROD POTTER
REGAINING promotion to Turf 1 was the only objective this season for Cranbourne.
After demotion to Turf 2 in 2008/09, Cranbourne has chipped away at a premiership tilt – recruiting strongly and making its best line-up in years.
The hard work paid dividends on Sunday as Cranbourne (350) completely dominated the Southern Pirates (129) at Arch Brown Reserve to regain promotion back into Turf 1.
Battling for promotion, the early inroads of Pirates bowler Matthew Perry (3/54 overnight) – getting the important wicket of Cranbourne captain Trevor Johnston (0) – started to turn the match in the Pirates favour before the Eagles middle order swooped.
Daniel Polson (107) belted his first century of the season when it counted most – anchoring with Ben Maroney (59) to put on 119 in an outstanding fourth-wicket stand.The next partnership accrued 75 as Te Ahu Davis (31) put them on with the centurion.
“It was a super important partnership,” Cranbourne captain-coach Trevor Johnston said.
“We were 3/44 – super important and the pitch was doing a bit of sideways movement and it set us up to really push on with things.
“The rain didn’t help us a great deal – slows you down a little bit – but the way those two batted set us up for a bit of a launch.”
Chris George (36) arrived for Cranbourne next as Vibhav Damodaran (2/76) got some revenge on the boys who belted him about. Faisal Payenda (24) and Matthew Weller (30) kept the initiative going as play was called off early due to rain. A quick smash-about on Sunday morning got the Cranbourne tally to three-and-a-half centuries; a monstrous tally for the Pirates to walk in and try to chase down.
The Pirate effort was disappointing as none of their usual stars stepped up in the crunch moment. They were completely circling the drain at 7/65, following a rampage of Davis (4/41) and Cameron Kelly (3/32) early.
Some respectability was granted via fighting knocks off Pirates’ Shannon Rozario (37) and Perry (22 not out), but their resistance was short-lived as Cranbourne took the last scalp and with it hoisted the Turf 2 premiership cup and returned to the top grade in the DDCA.
“We’ve got a pretty good side, so it’s a little bit of relief in the end,” Johnston said.
“Good side of players, but sometimes champion players don’t make a champion side.
“There were a few emotions – excitement, relief, and all rolled into one.
“Eight months of hard work and this year they made it pretty clear that anything less than a premiership was a fail – it creates a bit of pressure, but we did what we had to do I suppose.
Johnston was given a one-year contract last year, but a premiership cup sitting down with him and promotion back to the top grade make for good talking points at negotiations.
The captain was pleased with the support of “Shaun Petrie – our president – he always gives us fantastic support to me and with a guy like that at the top you can’t go wrong,” Johnston said.
“The committee is a very supportive committee – never gone without and that’s what it takes.
“It isn’t just the 11 blokes on the day and that’s what Cranbourne really do – they’re very supportive behind the scenes and a pleasure to work with them.
Aims for next year will be threshed out in the next few weeks, but Johnston wants to recruit another top-order batsman and hopefully another spinner to give the Eagles the best chance in Turf 1.
DDCA TURF 2
GRAND FINAL SCORECARD
CRANBOURNE1ST INNINGS
J Cleland c V Damodaran b MJ Perry 10
+L.T. Ligt b N. Kumar 7
*T. Johnston lbw b M.J. Perry 0
B. Maroney b B. Vantwest 59
D. Polson c A. Ganesh b V. Damodaran 107
T. Davis c M.J. Perry b V. Damodaran 31
C.K. George lbw b M.J. Perry 36
F. Payenda c S. Rozario b N. Kumar 24
M.L. Weller c S. Rozario b M.J. Perry 30
A. Pupuke c J.R. Brohier b N. Kumar 10
C.P. Kelly not out 0
Extras (nb 3, w 2, b 23, lb 6) 34 Total 350 Overs 82.2 FOW: 27 (L.T. Ligt) 28 (T. Johnston) 44 (J. Cleland) 163 (B. Maroney) 238 (D. Polson) 267 (T. Davis) 289 (C.K. George) 326 (F. Payenda) 350 (M.L. Weller) 350 (A. Pupuke).
Bowling: N. Kumar 26.2-5-3-92. M. Perry 27-9-4-64. S. Ulbrick 8-0-0-37. J. Brohier 3-0-0-24. B. Vantwest 4-1-1-26. V. Damodaran 14-0-2-76.
SOUTHERN PIRATES1ST INNINGS
J.R. Brohier c A. Pupuke b T. Davis 11
V. Damodaran c J. Cleland b C.P. Kelly 5
CJ Perry lbw b CP Kelly 0
A. Ganesh b C.P. Kelly 16
*N. Kumar c F. Payenda b T. Davis 5
B. Vantwest c L.T. Ligt b T. Davis 9
S. Ulbrick b T. Davis 3
+S. Rozario c M.L. Weller b A. Pupuke 37
N. Perera c T. Davis b A. Pupuke 13
M.J. Perry not out 22
D. Beauchamp b A. Pupuke 0
Extras (nb 4, w 2, b 1, lb 1) 8 Total 129 Overs 41.2
FOW: 8 (C.J. Perry) 8 (V. Damodaran) 34 (J.R. Brohier) 38 (A. Ganesh) 42 (N. Kumar) 55 (S. Ulbrick) 65 (B. Vantwest) 100 (S. Rozario) 121 (N. Perera) 129 (D. Beauchamp). Bowling: T. Davis 18-6-4-41. C. Kelly 15-6-3-32. A. Pupuke 5.2-0-3-23. F. Payenda 3-0-0-31.
