SECA: East Sandringham defeats Brighton Union in Longmuir Shield grand final
The great Guy Martyn blasted 83 not out as East Sandringham clinched a five-wicket win over Brighton Union in the SECA Longmuir Shield grand final.
Inner South
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East Sandringham has done it again.
The perennial powerhouse of the South East Cricket Association clinched another Longmuir Shield premiership after defeating Brighton Union in the grand final at Centenary Park on Sunday.
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East Sandy dismissed the Hoops for 160 on Saturday and chased down the target for the loss of five wickets.
East had navigated the two overs it had to face before stumps on the first day and resumed at 0-2.
Union grabbed the early wicketsit needed on day two as Rob Blair dismissed Matthew Harris (3) and Ryan Woodward (9), Stuart Gara cleaned up Mark Devereaux (12) and Stuart Bell picked up Matt Blunden for 4 to have East teetering at 4-56.
But Guy “Big Dog” Martyn, after surviving a close shout for LBW first ball, quickly took the momentum back for his team playing a glorious array of strokes.
With Brett Hampton also ticking the score over the result was beyond doubt fairly quickly as the dynamic duo added 98 at a run-a-ball pace to seal the deal before Hampton fell for 39 with the finish line in sight.
Martyn finished undefeated on 83 off 80 balls with 10 boundaries and a pair of maximums in a mercurial display.
Blair (3-53) was the pick of the Hoops bowlers.
The Hoops had won the toss and despite the early loss of Weerasingha Dilranga to a Tom Yorgey outswinger they progressed nicely to reach 1-54 before one fateful over from East swingman Vinay Bhendigiri changed the contest.
A well-placed short ball had Hoops captain Darian Kuzma top edging to his opposite number Hampton behind the stumps after a well-made 29 and four balls later Hampton dived across in front of the slip cordon to snap up an outside edge from Don Pulukkuttiarachchi (0).
Union had slumped to 3-54.
Enter East’s wily veteran spinner Luke Dallas and suddenly runs were hard to come by as the Beasts applied the screws.
Union was not helped by last weekend’s hero Matt Vorbach struggling with a back injury as he slid down the batting order.
Matthew Freeman (6), Bell (after a robust 35) and Yasas Tillakaratne (12) all perished in quick succession to put Union on the edge at 6-96.
And while Antony Stojko (10) dug in for a while Vorbach lacked support until eventually he was last man out for 38 as he tried to nudge his team’s score up to something satisfactory. Bhendigiri (3-41 off 18 overs) was impressive but again Dallas dominated a final for East taking 5-49 off 24 consecutive overs.
Woolnough Shield player of the year Leigh Dawkins led his team Omega to 9-247 against Kingston Heath.
Dawkins and James Tulley (34) gave their team a 99-run start to set up the solid total but it was an even better effort from the gutsy left-handed opener than it looks on paper as he batted with a fractured and dislocated finger sustained in last weekend’s preliminary final.
It didn’t seem right that his effort was not rewarded with three figures as he was unluckily dismissed for 99.
Hemantha Alles was excellent with the ball, taking 4-61 for the Golfers.
The Kingston Heath chase started badly as it lost Nick Waltrich to the second ball of the day but Luke Schwarze and Nathaniel D’Rozario added 78.
The dismissal of D’Rozario for 28 things quickly turned pear-shaped for the Golfers as the loss of their key batsmen in quick succession followed and when Schwarze’s 63-run vigil ended the contest was over.
Jarryd Wilson (3-21) ran through the middle order and the Heath were skittled for 147, their last nine wickets falling for just 69 runs.
In Quiney Shield Elwood posted 184 against Bentleigh Uniting with Chris Richmond making a dashing 68, studded with 14 boundaries.
But Campbell James started with 50 for the Lions and finals star Harry Zaia measured his team’s run chase to perfection, making an undefeated 66 to steer Uniting to the win.
Brighton Union put up 7-208 against the Victorian Cavaliers Sports Club in D Grade, with John Donohoe making a fine 53.
But Nick Freeman batted through the entire day making a defiant, unbeaten 84.
The Cavs were in good shape at times but Donohoe had the final say, bagging 3-17 to guarantee a flag for the Hoops as their opposition were closed down for 171.
Bentleigh Uniting and Elwood were also combatants in E Grade where Elwood knocked up 161 with opener Julian Greening making 53 and Uniting mystery spinner Michael Papalie taking 4-51.
It was two from two for the Lions as Zander Elkins (43no) blasted them to victory at 6-163.
There was success for Kingston Heath in F Grade as evergreen Leroy De Alwis bagged 5-30 to dismiss Keysborough Park for 133. The Golfers tracked down the target easily with Paul Sanders (55) leading the charge.
CUCC Kings took out the G Grade premiership over Brighton Union with Sushant Puri (59) and Swejeeth Kumar (6-33) leading the way.
— Mark Missen
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