BHRDCA 2018-19: Park Orchards and St Davids share premiership after tied grand final

Two suburban cricket teams have been awarded a premiership after a bizarre local cricket grand final in Melbourne’s east.

Park Orchards and St Davids celebrate their BHRDCA premiership. Picture: Supplied

Two suburban cricket teams have been awarded a premiership after a bizarre local cricket grand final.

The Box Hill Reporter District Cricket Association Dorothy McIntosh Shield final between Park Orchards and St Davids finished in a tie after both teams were bowled out for 165.

BHRDCA rules state: “if the match result is a tie, joint premierships shall be awarded”.

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Other suburban competitions rule that the highest ranked team on the ladder is determined premier if the grand final is tied or drawn.

The Eastern and Ringwood District competitions also have shared premiers in the event of a tie.

St Davids reached 8-164 but lost 2-1 in reply to Park Orchards’ 165.

St Davids President Paul Newman said it was initially a strange feeling to win the premiership on a tie.

“It took a while for it to sink in for both sides that both clubs get a premiership flag and all the boys received a premiership medallion,” Newman said.

“It was something I haven’t heard of before. It’s really unique and I’ve tried to tell the boys, most of them are really stoked they won a flag because we only just scraped into the finals on percentage.”

Newman said he was only made aware of rule as the game came to a tense conclusion.

“It was a bit surreal I guess, people didn’t really know how to take it but I know as the night went on all the boys loosened up a bit and started really enjoying the fact we scraped into finals and ended up not losing the grand final,” he said.

“Once everybody finished the game and everyone was on the ground having a beer … it took a little bit of convincing for a couple of blokes but they came around.

“It was kind of strange and it took a while for it to sink in that both clubs are premiers.”

St Davids with the BHRDCA premiership. Picture: Supplied

Park Orchards registrar Craig Hunt said declaring both teams premiers was a fair outcome.

“Both teams played their hearts out to try and win — it was a pretty crazy afternoon,” he said.

“Both teams initially were in shock about what was going to happen now but I think the picture tells it all — they accepted it and moved on.

“Lots of them probably did have a hollow feeling, even my son last night was going, ‘I don’t feel like we won’ but I said, ‘you didn’t lose’.”