By Marcus Uhe
4/141 chasing 150 in home conditions, with 23 deliveries remaining and a set batter at the crease.
An unassailable position, right?
So Coomoora thought.
Victory was in its grasp at home against Parkfield in the Dandenong District Cricket Association’s Turf 2 competition on Saturday, along with a chance to move a game clear of the chasing pack into equal top spot on the table.
Undefeated in the shorter format this summer, there seemed nothing stopping them from making it five wins from five white ball contests.
Under the pump thanks to a severely underwhelming beginning to the season, Parkfield was flirting with disaster and falling three games clear of the top four as the competition turns for home in the second half of the season.
Steve Cannon, the Bandits’ captain-coach, had a sinking feeling.
Until he didn’t.
“A couple of little things weren’t going our way, a few shots were just to the left or right of fielders,” he said of his side’s defence.
“Travis (D’Souza) and I looked at each other and thought ‘it must be one of those days’, but when Travis got (Dean) Krelle out, chopping on, we thought ‘maybe our luck is starting to turn here.’
“Knowing Joel (Robertson) was getting tired and had played a few false shots, he had one of the ones that landed just safe or we dropped him or something like that, so thought ‘we’re still a chance here.’
“We dropped him not long after that, which is the moment I thought ‘we’re cooked now,’ then he played a silly shot and got caught on the boundary and it opened the gate.
“I knew Wheeler and a couple of the other guys were inexperienced, so I thought ‘let’s keep the pressure on, bowl some dots.’”
Bowl some dots they did, and the burden rose on Coomoora with every period drawn on the scorebook.
Robertson’s wicket at 5/141, a second for Hansika Kodikara in what was becoming a huge performance, exposed an underdone lower order seldom required to this position this summer.
Cannon removed Adam Wheeler and Jackson Noske in the space of four balls in the following over, and another double-dismissal in the 44th, where Wetering and Suneet Nambair were both run out, put the game on a knife’s edge at 9/147.
“We had that moment when (D’Souza) got Krelle out, we came together and said ‘it’s looking unlikely but this is where we’ve got to show a bit of heart and throw the kitchen sink at it for the last little bit, because you never know, but let’s salvage something out of the game.’
“Then another one fell, and I reckon by that stage, when everyone ran into the huddle, you’re looking around the huddle and at everyone’s faces, and they were just ‘on’.
“It flipped within an over or two; all of a sudden, bang, momentum was actually with us.
“It was actually harder for them to win the game at the end than it was for us to win in, I reckon.”
The rise in intensity saw Coomoora take risks that failed to pay off.
First XI debutant Suneet Nambiar and Sam Wetering were both run out in the penultimate over, leaving Cannon with the enormous task of winning the match for his team in the 45th.
Coomoora needed just three runs to win, but the Bandits were hunting just one more wicket – truly anyone’s game.
The over began with a dot, before Malan Madusanka ran a single on the second ball of the over.
But an ill-fated decision to chance a run on Kodikara’s arm from Michael Klonaridis proved fateful, as the match-winner’s throw to Cannon at the non-striker’s end allowed the captain-coach to whip off the bails, and secure a remarkable win.
The collapse in totality was 6/8 in 21 deliveries as Parkfield snuck home by one run with three balls to spare.
“It’s in the top three best games I’ve ever been a part of,” Cannon said.
“We were pretty much down and out.
“To find a way, and create pressure out of nothing, because when you’re five down and need 10 runs, there shouldn’t be any pressure.
“For us to create that environment and make them feel like it was going to be so hard for them to make those runs, it was a credit to everyone out there.
“We had guys that made a golden duck, but in the field they probably saved us eight-10 runs by their stops, just throwing themselves at it.
“Stuff like that, that’s real morale building.
“That was getting back to the Parkfield of old where we play with heart and the badge, all those cliches.
“That’s what we were building to our success last year from – that mentality, whereas it was probably lacking a little bit this year, getting complacent and thinking it was going to happen.
“It was a nice feeling and seeing the buzz in the rooms afterwards, I hope that’s enough to drive that home and say ‘this is how we should be playing our cricket each week.’”
Another poor showing from Parkfield’s batters meant they were defending a slim total of 150.
Five wickets from opener Wetering and four for Madusanka kept the total low, with a 103-run stand between D’Souza (57) and Kodikara (36) providing the most resistance.
Kodikara’s dismissal to break the partnership, however, triggered a collapse of 7/17, and brought the Bandits’ innings to an end in quick time.
With a run rate of just over three required for victory, Coomoora undertook a patient approach to the run chase without putting the foot to the floor.
Cannon and Kodikara made early breakthroughs with the ball before Robertson and Krelle joined forces for a 67-run stand.
Krelle was the first of the pair to fall for 39, with Robertson reaching 56, with Robertson’s wicket in the 42nd over the beginning of the disastrous close to match for Roos.
Cannon finished with 4/14 in an exceptional spell of bowling, while Kodikara’s 36, 2/40 and the match-winning run out, made for a man-of-the-match display.
Parkfield now sits just outside finals calculations in fifth place, two games back from the Roos in fourth.
