Geelong premier cricket wins second’s premiership, loses third’s grand final after tie

Geelong had a ‘bittersweet’ grand final day after one dominant win and a heartbreaking tie.

Geelong won its second's premier grand final, beating Melbourne by eight wickets. Picture: Geelong Cricket Club

GEELONG women’s coach Stephen Field says he wants to see a change in premier cricket deciders after the third’s side went down in heartbreaking fashion.

The club enjoyed “one and a half wins” on Sunday, with Geelong winning the premier second’s grand final by eight wickets, and tying the premier third’s grand final in a dramatic final over.

Carlton ultimately was awarded the premiership on ladder positioning, which Field said needed to be changed.

“I think there should be a winner, whether it’s a super over or a different method to decide the result,” he said.

“It’s not a definitive win, I know afterwards Carlton was not overjoyed with the result, everyone left feeling a bit flat.

“I know there’s a bit of hindsight in it, but if we had finished on top I don’t think we’d want to win a premiership like that.

“In saying that, in the last round of the season we suffered a bad loss and Carlton got a bonus point, so we did have a chance to finish on top.”

Carlton needed just two runs to win with two wickets in hand, and drew level on the first ball of the final over, but two wickets in three balls to captain Grace Lee left the minor premiers stranded on 127 chasing 127.

15-year-old Chloe Sewell starred for Geelong despite the loss, claiming 5-26 off seven overs and won player of the match.

It was better news for the seconds, who chased down Melbourne’s total of 165 with eight wickets in hand, with Steph Townsend (78) and Meera Patel (53*) starring with a 134-run partnership to set up the win.

Field said the bowling and fielding efforts, which yielded four run outs, kept Melbourne to a manageable total.

“The girls worked really hard on their fielding all year at training, and it was great to see it paid off on the big stage with all the pressure,” he said.

“If you told me before the game we would keep Melbourne to 165 on a really good pitch and a fast outfield, I would’ve taken that every time.

“But even when the girls came off they were a little disappointed that they let them get as many as they did, which showed me they were really hungry for the win and they didn’t think it was just going to happen.

“Then out batting was really strong, we had a decent opening partnership then Steph and Meera just took the game away from Melbourne with really good batting.

“It was a bittersweet kind of day.”

Townsend was named player of the match for her batting performance, paired with bowling seven overs for 0-23 and a run out.

Originally published as Geelong premier cricket wins second’s premiership, loses third’s grand final after tie