By David Nagel
“To do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result is – by definition – insanity.”
Identifying the need for change has paid off instantly for the Merinda Park Cricket Club after the Cobras (5/187) outlasted Premier Division newcomer Devon Meadows (7/183) by five wickets on Saturday.
Led by a brilliant 104 from 111 balls from boom-recruit Bevin Corneille, the Cobras hunted down the Panthers’ competitive score with 14 balls to spare at Tony Way Recreation Reserve.
Corneille was one of seven new faces from the last competitive game for the Cobras…a surprise win over Pakenham in the last round of the 2022/23 season that saved their Premier Division status.
Only skipper Mat Campbell, Daniel McCalman, Tyson Bertrand and keeper/bat Cambell Bryan survived a clean-sweep of the playing stocks this season.
The Panthers, on the other hand, had eight players return to the field from last year’s premiership-winning team in the second-tier District Division.
Coach and leading wicket-taker Chris Cleef was a key omission, with he, Trent Delaney and Ben Hussey being replaced by Jamie Cape, Jakeb McVicar and Ethan Wood.
The stage was set for a thrilling contest, with Devon Meadows testing itself in the top-flight and the Cobras largely a team of unknowns.
It would take 77.4 overs of highly-competitive cricket to find a winner!
New Panthers’ skipper Lucas Ligt called correctly at the toss and batted first, padding up with Will Halton to see off Campbell and Rajan Rana with a new white-cherry in hand.
Halton hit the third ball of the season for three and the Panthers were on their way.
Rana was erratic in his opening over – with maybe a touch of nerves – and those emotions weren’t settled as Ligt took Campbell for seven runs in the third over to have the score at 0/18.
Campbell didn’t muck around, putting his ego aside, dragging himself and bringing Raveen Kadirahettiarachchi into the attack to bowl the fifth over of the match.
His third over went for 12 runs, with the blade of Halton contributing 11 of those.
But just three balls later Halton was out, hitting Rana to McCalman on 22 to leave the score at 1/47 after a pulsating 10-over block.
Steve Robinson joined Ligt, and the pair put on a steady partnership of 60 from 14 overs before Rumesh Ranasinghe (8-0-30-3) claimed the key wicket of Ligt (46) in the 25th over.
The wicket of Ligt was the first of three wickets in 17 balls for Ranasinghe…a spell which changed the course of the match.
McVicar (2) and Robinson (34) were the follow ups to Ligt…with the scoring rate slowing until Lucas Carroll (47) took 16 runs off the 34th over to leave the Panthers at 4/144 with just six overs to bat.
Corneille (8-0-44-2) would take both of his wickets for just three runs in the 40th over to give the Cobras some impetus heading into their run-chase.
Corneille and Ranasinghe (26) started well for the Cobras, landing at 0/43 after 10, and were 0/79 – midway through the 17th over – before Carroll (6-0-35-2) struck the first blow.
Corneille was not out 52, and Harkamal Singh on nine when drinks were taken with 20 overs left to bat.
Singh was gone three balls later, courtesy of Riley Worsteling (8-0-34-1), before Corneille and McCalman (32 not out) steadied the ship; the equation 21 runs to win from five overs, with eight wickets left in the sheds.
Ligt (7-0-35-2) then gave the Panthers some hope, removing the rock-solid Corneille (104) and Kadirahettiarachchi in the space of four deliveries to make it 15 required from 24 balls.
McCalman then took nine off a Carroll over to make it a comfortable six from 18.
McCalman then equalled the scores for the Panthers, before Liam Bertrand (4 not out) finished the contest with 14 balls remaining…the first and only ball he’s faced for the season!
Campbell was delighted with the 12 points, with Corneille, Ranasinghe and club-stalwart McCalman playing key roles in the victory.
“It’s great for the club because a lot of hard work has gone into changing our fortunes around,” Campbell explained.
“And it’s not just on-field; we had a presentation of First XI caps on Thursday night with 90 people in the room and called on past players to present them.
“I engaged Marty Donaldson, Brett Armitage, Jamie Smith, Doug Marshall and Danny Diwell to present the caps and it just had a nice old-school feel to the place.
“It was great to cap it off with a win.”
Campbell knew exactly what he was getting when Corneille contacted the club via social media and the two sat down for a chat.
“When I played at Mordialloc I played against Bevin when he was at Dingley, he plays his role and bats time, a rock-solid two-day cricketer, but he has the ability and the framework to go to another level.
“He reached out to us, via social media and we sat down for a chat.
“He’s getting towards the back-end of his career, but he’s going to very important for us this season.”
And Campbell was proud of one of his great mates, McCalman who played a key role from his new position at four.
“He’s been offered contracts of huge money to walk away from Merinda Park, but he’s loyal to the club, as loyal as they come, and he’s not in it for money, he’s in it for Merinda Park,” he said.
“He opened most of his career at Donnelly Reserve, a ground that is hard to score on, so to have that conversation with him that he will not be opening the batting, that he will batting at number four at the new ground, no matter what, that was an interesting conversation to have.
“He’s so well respected across the association; I’ve never heard a bad word spoken about him, and he’s earned that respect in spades.
“His role will be match dependant, and it could change from week to week, but I’m 100 percent confident he can play any role we ask him and will do it well.”
There were also some very positive signs for the Panthers, who proved highly competitive in their first outing in the top flight.
Devon Meadows will stay on the road this week, heading to Carlisle Park, and will be confident of victory after the Vikings top-order showed extreme signs of brittleness against Tooradin.
The Panthers would love to get one on the board before a huge double-header at Glover Reserve – on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 October – against Tooradin and Kooweerup.
Merinda Park heads to Gunton Oval on Saturday to take on first-round losers Cardinia.
