Brunswick wins its first Craig Shield title, Darcy Aitken man-of-the-match
Ormond looked headed for another Craig Shield title before Darcy Aitken lifted Brunswick to a history-making victory on Sunday.
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A Michael Bevan-like performance from Darcy Aitken has delivered Brunswick a maiden VSDCA Craig Shield title.
The Wicks looked in strife at 4-54 chasing Ormond’s 130 but Aitken paced his innings superbly, patiently batting before accelerating at the death to seal a five wicket win with four overs remaining.
Awarded the Ian Aitken Trophy as man-of-the-match, Aitken finished on 45 not out from 60 balls with three critical boundaries.
The Delacombe youngster also claimed 1-5 with the ball and took a catch in an all-action display.
Brunswick coach Luke Money said patience paid off.
“Couldn’t be prouder of him,” he said.
“Darce was a little bit nervous sitting on the sidelines, he almost said if there’s two spinners going I don’t really want to go out there.
“I just said to him ‘back yourself, you’ve got the talent and you put in the work’.
“He hasn’t the best rub of the green, he got good runs against Ivanhoe but other than that he’s struggled a bit, he just scrapped really hard and then reaped the rewards.
“I reckon he might have been 15 off his first 40, so he’s really capitalised late.”
In one of the competition’s biggest upsets, the defeat snaps Ormond’s 18-game win streak and 19 games without a loss.
The reigning champions entered the final as hot favourites after a second successive unbeaten campaign and batted first after winning the toss.
However, Wicks co-captain Zane Attard (2-10), Will Richter (2-11) and Josh Whitfield (2-22) ripped through the top order.
Opener Cooper Rojko made 33 but the Monders were in desperate trouble at 7-72 before a late fightback from Will Scott (25) and Ashton Young (22).
Attard (18), Tom Patterson (17) and Hamish Pearce (12) gave Brunswick a platform before Aitken and co-captain Keir Lucas (15) put on 52 runs for the fourth wicket and Flynn Magrath (eight) helped finish the game off.
“When we rocked up and saw the wicket and knowing their prowess with the bat, we thought if we can keep them under 200 we can get it,” Money said.
“To get early wickets like that shows the depth of our squad, everyone that came on didn’t relent, the pressure stayed on and on.
“As is the case with these carnivals you’ve got 14 kids who bat three or four at their club, so those last three or four can be really hard to get.
“We’ve got a lot of good variety and I think that’s one of the things that has got us to this point, being able to throw the ball to different guys.”
Money labelled the victory the best he’s been a part of and paid tribute to his players after a dramatic carnival.
“To think of all the stuff we’ve gone through and where we started, to end up here I wouldn’t have imagined it in my wildest dreams,” he said.
“We knew from the start we were going to need all 13-14 guys, especially when in a couple of games when we only had 11 available, their character was tremendous.
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“We lost three really handy players who chose to play elsewhere and a couple of other kids who trained with us for two months told us they were going to play somewhere else.
“It got to the point we had to call some kids we’d cut back to come and trial again.
“I’ve been part of two Dowling Shield coaching teams that have won it and this is better, no one gave us a chance and to come out on top is a real treat.
“It’s huge, guys like (president) Ron (Sahlberg) and John (Swanson) do an enormous amount of work and to get it for them is really special.”
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