DDCA 2018-19: Buckley Ridges holds out Springvale South in epic Turf 1 grand final
Buckley Ridges held out Springvale South in a classic DDCA Turf 1 grand final dominated by outstanding centuries from David White and Nathan King.
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What a game. Words can hardly do it justice. It was the greatest Turf 1 grand final in DDCA history.
Buckley Ridges (5-326) on Sunday outlasted Springvale South (315) to win its third premiership in 10 years.
Sadly for the Bloods it was heartache for the fifth time in the decider since they last won it in 2010-11.
STRAKER RUNS THROUGH BUCKLEY RIDGES
There was no loser in this game. Only winners and plenty of them.
The two standout sides of the summer produced a game worthy of the revamped competition in a battle that will be seared in the memories of everyone who was lucky enough to witness it.
It took until the first ball of the penultimate over of the match (the 179th over of the grand final) for it to be decided.
South batsman Malinga Bandara holed out to Ben Watson at long-on, off the bowling of Wes Nicholas, to finally settle it.
As soon as Watson completed the catch jubilant Buckley Ridges surged on to the ground, making for stirring scenes at Cashman Oval at Tom Carroll Reserve.
There were records everywhere. The highest partnership in a grand final of 261 between David White and Paul Rudd. The third highest individual score recorded in a grand final by White with 178.
A record opening partnership in a grand final of 185 by Bloods pair Nathan King and Michael Vandort.
The highest losing score of 315 by Springvale South and the highest combined total of 641 runs over two innings in a grand final.
Set what seemed an impossible 327 for victory, Springvale South was sensational, falling two lusty strikes short of victory.
King played the innings of his life to blister the Ridges attack all over the field, scorching a magnificent 134. He was run out at the bowler’s end off a deflection from Nicholas’s outstretched hand.
It was the same way White was dismissed. And perhaps it was the only way King and White could be removed.
It ended a dazzling partnership between King and Vandort (90). King faced only 146 balls, hitting 13 boundaries and four maximums.
Former Sri Lankan Test opener Vandort put his ego in his back pocket to play the support role to the red-hot King.
It was Vandort’s highest score in his four seasons with the Bloods. And it took a blinder of a caught and bowled by Daniel Watson to send the hulking opener on his way.
He was at the creases for almost five hours, soaking up 214 balls.
Wickets fell just as momentum seemed headed the Bloods’ way and, aside from the openers, only Bandara (46) made any significant contribution. No other player got past 10.
Six-time Wookey Medallist Steve Spoljaric made a duck in his final Turf 1 innings. It has been an extraordinary nine-year DDCA career that will never be matched.
Nicholas was not introduced into the attack until the 46th over and with the score on 0-184. The run out of King came in his first over and the affable tweaker became the match winner with 4-38 from 13.1 overs.
New-baller Jurgen Andersen was mighty for the Ridges. He sent down 30 overs to record 3-105, a far better performance than the figures indicate.
The Ridges has resumed at 1-238 on Sunday with 10 overs still to bat. They ended with 5-326 and needed every one of them.
White is too good for this competition. There is no other way to put it. White’s brilliance with the bat was again on show as he posted a one-for-the-ages century. It was arguably the greatest innings ever played in the competition.
White followed up his unbeaten 155 in the preliminary final against Hallam Kalora Park with another breathtaking innings.
He, like King, was run out in the cruellest of ways for 178. He was sublime.
The Bloods were helpless to stop him after he strode to the creases with his side in trouble at 1-10 with the loss of Daniel Watson in the ninth over.
It was to be the only success for the Bloods for the whole day.
White and Ridges stalwart and 44-year-old Rudd posted a record-breaking union of 261, with Rudd out going for quick runs on the Sunday morning for a brilliant and determined 92. He deserved a ton.
Rudd proved the perfect foil to White, facing 273 balls and batting for 277 minutes. There were only seven boundaries and 1 six in his outstanding knock. In contrast White faced only 218 balls, crashing seven fours and an incredible 11 sixes.
It was the South African’s sixth hundred of the summer across all formats. He will head home with an average well in excess of 100 and with 1252 runs.
As for Rudd, it’s worth remembering his contribution in the 2009-10 grand final when Buckley Ridges broke a 50-year drought in the top division.
The Bucks ground out 9-213 in that match, with Rudd digging in for 29 in a matchwinning partnership of 75 for the eighth wicket with Dave Wheeler.
English star Paul Franks coached the Bucks that year — and on Sunday watched the last two overs of the match on FaceTime.
“Brilliant grand final and I’m so proud of everyone at the club,’’ Franks said in a message to Leader.
“They are resilient and have some outstanding people at the club who keep everything alive.’’
Meanwhile 11-time DDCA Turf 1 grand final umpire Neil “Moose’’ Shaw has retired but will stay on the executive.
* They might have to rename the Wookey the “Spolly’’.
Dandenong District Cricket Association champion Steve Spoljaric last week claimed his sixth Wookey Medal as the best player in the Turf 1 section.
The Springvale South all-rounder and former Victorian Premier Cricket Ryder Medallist polled 39 votes to defeat Hallam Kalora Park young gun Jordan Hammond by one.
St Mary’s star Ruwan Kellepotha was third with 30 votes.
Spoljaric, 41, had another outstanding season, going in to the Turf 1 grand final against Buckley Ridges with 752 runs at 53.7.
There were centuries against Mordialloc (107), Hallam Kalora Park (122no) and North Dandenong (132).
Affable “Spolly’’ won his first Wookey in 2010-11 when he was at Parkfield. He followed up in 2011-12 and 2013-14, then won two at Cranbourne, in 2014-15 and 2016-17.
His first medal for Springvale South means he has won six Wookeys in his nine seasons in the DDCA.
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