By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE Pearcedale Cricket Club and its devoted members haven’t exactly done it easy in recent years.
Five seasons ago the Dales only had two senior sides and the second XI didn’t win a game. Having just two junior sides as well only served to make their situation even more dire – the seniors were struggling, and there weren’t enough youngsters coming through to bolster the club.
Players had become disinterested and participation had dropped to dangerously low levels.
But through sheer grit, hard work, and bringing back some of their own into the fold, the Dales’ first XI is now on the verge of its second premiership in two seasons.
There are two youngsters from the club about to head to England as part of a league representative touring side, and Pearcedale now has five junior teams and around 70 Milo Cricket participants.
At a senior level, they earned promotion out of the Mornington Peninsula Cricket Association’s (MPCA) Sub-District ranks last season with a premiership win over Rosebud, and now they’re in a great position to win their way through to the top Provincial tier for the first time.
One of the key figures behind the surge is former Victorian Premier Cricket all-rounder Chris Dew. He took a brilliant 12/68 against Rosebud in last season’s decider, and on the weekend hit a stunning undefeated 159 not out to take his side to 9/272. He then capitalised on that momentum to take the first two wickets of the Flinders innings to have the side 2/37 going into the final day’s play at Tyabb this Saturday.
Pearcedale past president and first XI player Mitch Andrew said the impact the likes of Dew, Shane Maggs (32), and skipper Kaine Smith (18) had on the playing group was massive.
“We had a key group of players but just missed that x-factor and that real strong batsman,” Andrew said.
“Dewy (Dew) struggled to adjust in his first year – it took him a season or so to get used to playing our level of cricket – but we’ve got him, Maggs and Smith and the three of them have so much experience.”
When Dew came to the crease on the weekend, his side was 2/3 and staring down the barrel of being dismissed for under 100. But through a combination of great strokeplay and batsmanship, he and Maggs then steadied the ship and controlled the innings.
Now, they’ll look to finish it off in style with the ball this weekend.
