The glory of making a grand final versus the despair of being one short step away; the prize is huge when the CCCA Premier Division semi-finals take place at Tooradin and Kooweerup this weekend. Sports Editor DAVID NAGEL runs his eye over the Seagulls, Bulls, Demons and Lions ahead of two enormous contests.
TOORADIN (1) V CARDINIA (4)
TOORADIN
WIN/LOSS/DRAW 12-1-1
RUNS TOP-5: Cal O’Hare 552, Josh Lownds 527, Peter Sweeney 339, Tom Hussey 312, Mick Sweeney 276.
WKTS TOP-5: Brad Butler 26, Josh Lownds 23, Russell Lehman 19, Peter Sweeney 12, Tyler Evans 9, Kallan Braid-Ball 9.
CARDINIA
WIN/LOSS/DRAW 6-7-1
RUNS TOP-5: Morteza Ali 590, Travis Wheller 531, Alex Nooy 442, Jacobus Hynes 362, Matt Welsh 217.
WKTS TOP-5: Travis Wheller 29, Dean Henwood 18, Josh Browne 14, Matt Welsh 13, Morteza Ali 11.
Finals History
Tooradin and Cardinia will play their first two-day final since 2014/15 when the Seagulls and Bulls collide at Tooradin this weekend.
These two most recently played a semi-final in the one-day season of 2020/21; with the top-of-the-table Bulls in considerable trouble, making 8/145 from their 40 overs, before rain washed away the Seagulls run-chase.
In 2021/22, Tooradin broke a nine-year premiership drought when it defended its 7/161 against the Bulls, with champion all-rounder Russell Lehman (51 and 4/24) leading allcomers with both bat and ball that day.
These two were constant combatants in finals leading to that 2015 engagement, which was the fourth year in a row they stared each other down in semis.
Tooradin won the first two of those finals; with 2013 leading to premiership glory, before the Bulls gained revenge in ’14 and ’15.
In 2015, Travis Wheller bowled the Bulls to victory taking 3/11 off 10 over; three days on from his 17th birthday.
Bullet Points
• Travis Wheller has bowled 54 maidens from 178 overs; Dean Henwood is next best for the Bulls with 28.
• Josh Lownds has the best bowling average of all finalists; taking his wickets at 9.13.
• Josh Lownds (2.05) and Peter Sweeney (2.30) have the two best economy rates in the league.
• Take the good with the bad. Brad Butler has conceded 55 extras (40 wides, 15 no balls) but picks up a wicket every 26 balls.
• Cal O’Hare (768) and Josh Lownds (750) sit three and four on the balls-faced list this season; behind Pakenham’s Chris Smith (1303) and Dale Tormey (895).
• Despite opening the batting, Morteza Ali (4) has the most not outs for Cardinia this season.
• Tooradin clearly has the highest caliber of not out players, with Dylan Sutton (5), Tyler Evans (5), Russell Lehman (4) and Brad Butler (4) being unbeaten 18 times.
• Travis Wheller (3 x 50, 2 x 100) has had more milestone innings than any player in this match. Josh Lownds is next best (3 x 50, 1 x 100) with four.
• Tooradin has the top-three strike-rates; Brad Butler (168 off 86), Dylan Sutton (235 off 153) and Russell Lehman (243 off 193) of semi-finalists to have made more than 100 runs.
• Fire-power at the top. Morteza Ali (20) and Cal O’Hare (19) have hit the most sixes for their teams. Next best is Mick Sweeney (8) and Travis Wheller (7).
The Tip
Cardinia is the only team to have played in the last three grand finals, and knows how to cause an upset.
Last year the Bulls finished fourth, before crushing top-of-the-ladder Pakenham with an explosive day-one batting performance (9/371) led by Morteza Ali (134).
Ali took the game away from the Lions, before Jake Prosser (63), Leigh Paterson (50) and Lachlan Volpe (62*) put the final nail in the coffin.
Ali doesn’t have those three as support this time around, but will instead rely on the trustworthy Travis Wheller, the unpredictable Alex Nooy, and up-and-coming talent Jacobus Hynes to set up a winning score.
It won’t be easy however, with Brad Butler and Russell Lehman dangerous commodities with the new ball; before Josh Lownds and Peter Sweeney aim to tie things up from both ends.
Tooradin’s batting philosophy is pretty straight forward.
Cal O’Hare, Josh Lownds and Peter and Mick Sweeney will look to bat time; keeping wickets in hand, before the most powerful mid-to-lower order in the CCCA looks to explode late.
Expect Wheller to bowl a marathon spell, having bowled the most overs (178) in the Premier Division this season.
Cardinia will expect to win, that’s its ‘always’ approach to cricket…but this Tooradin line-up looks a class above.
The Seagulls will win convincingly and march through to their second grand final appearance in three years.
KOOWEERUP (2) V PAKENHAM (3)
KOOWEERUP
WIN/LOSS/DRAW 11-2-1
RUNS TOP-5: Chris Bright 621, Luke McMaster 612, Steven Dillon 458, Gamini Kumara 199, Lachie Ramage 159.
WKTS TOP-5: Adam McMaster 27, Luke McMaster 18, Matt Bright 18, Steven Dillon 16, Robert Maskiel 11.
PAKENHAM
WIN/LOSS/DRAW 9-4-1
RUNS TOP-5: Chris Smith 989, Dale Tormey 659, Rob Elston 259, Jack Anning 233, Dom Paynter 169.
WKTS TOP-5: Dale Tormey 27, Jason Williams 18, Chris Smith 13, James Close 11, Marcus Martini 11.
Finals History
One of the great modern-day rivalries will resume at Denhams Road on Saturday when Kooweerup hosts Pakenham.
These two were last scheduled to play in March in the 2019/20 grand final before Covid intervened; handing the Demons their seventh flag in 12 seasons courtesy of their higher ladder position.
That 2019/20 decider was meant to be a mouth-watering tie-breaker, with the Demons sandwiching two premierships (2017 and ‘18) between the Lions’ dual successes in 2016 and ’19.
Despite being regulars at the top of the ladder, this will be the first semi-final meeting between the two clubs in the last decade.
The Demons won in 2013/14 – due to a Chris O’Hara (5/53 and 65) masterclass – and again prevailed at this stage in 2011/12 after 15-year-old Adam McMaster took 4/36 off 14 overs to turn over the Lions.
Bullet Points
• Steven Dillon has the best bowling strike-rate of players with 10 wickets or more; taking a wicket every 21 balls, at an average of 13.
• Dale Tormey (31) and Jason Williams (29) have combined for 60 maidens this season.
• Chris Smith has an average of 109.89; next best for Pakenham is Dale Tormey (54.92) and then it drops away quickly to Dom Paynter (24.14).
• Pakenham faced 4143 balls this season; Chris Smith (1303) and Dale Tormey (895) faced more than half of them (2198 = 53%); numbers one and two in the CCCA for that stat.
• Steven Dillon (654) faced the most balls for Kooweerup this season; ahead of Luke McMaster (623) and Chris Bright (593).
• Chris Bright has the most milestone innings (6 x 50, 1 x 100); one clear of Pakenham pair Chris Smith (3 x 50, 1 x 100, 2 x 200) and Dale Tormey (5 x 50, 1 x 100).
• Chris Smith (989 off 1303) and Dale Tormey (659 off 895) bat at a combined strike-rate of exactly 75.
• Kooweerup’s two big guns, Chris Bright (621 off 593) and Luke McMaster (612 off 623) bat at a combined strike-rate of 102.
• These two teams have hit the most boundaries this season; Pakenham (288 x 4s and 32 x 6s) with 320 ‘umpire-signal’ shots; Kooweerup 304 (253 x 4s and 51 x 6s).
• Smith and Tormey have hit 228 of Pakenham’s 320 4s and 6s; Chris Bright and Luke McMaster have 182 of Kooweerup’s 304.
The Tip
It’s hard to recall a team being more reliant on two players than what Pakenham has been this year.
Having said that, they’re two pretty handy players; with Chris Smith (989 runs and 13 wickets) elevating his game and reputation to another stratosphere in recent times, while skipper Dale Tormey (659 runs and 27 wickets) has had another magnificent season with both bat and ball.
The most amazing stat of all; Smith and Tormey have faced 2198 of the 4143 balls the Lions have faced this season; equating to 53-percent!
It’s an extraordinary figure and just goes to show the pressure that those two will be under this weekend.
And, in Kooweerup, they’ve got an opponent that won’t be shy in reminding them of that fact.
The Lions and Demons have split the points this season, but the Demons delivered the most telling blow on the same deck as this week’s semi-final.
Tormey (116) and Rob Elston (55) had the Lions cruising on day one – at 1/187 – before all hell broke loose.
The Lions lost 9/30, including their last eight wickets for nine runs.
Then last week Smith (98) and Tormey (91) had the Lions at 1/173 against Tooradin, before the final score ended on 9/253…five runs short of their target.
The problem this has created; opposition teams know they’re never out of the contest against the Lions.
Kooweerup has the ideal attack to make sure the Lions don’t even get off to that good start.
Jess Mathers and Adam and Luke McMaster are absolute guns with the new ball, while Steven Dillon, Matt Bright, Mitch Davey and Nathan Voss can do some damage in a hurry.
The Demons also have some reliability issues if Luke McMaster and Chris Bright fail at the top…but have a much better back-up plan than their opponents.
It’s the Demons to edge one step closer to their ninth premiership in 15 years.
