Carlton’s Third XI sealed premiership glory over Geelong in a tie

Carlton skipper Chand Negi says her side is extremely deserving of being crowned Premier Cricket Third XI champions despite the match finishing in a tie.

Carlton’s Women’s Third XI captain Chand Negi has commended her girls’ home-and-away season form, as a pole position finish secured the Blues Sunday’s Premier Cricket title.

The Third XI premiership was awarded to Carlton despite the match with Geelong finishing in a 127-run apiece tie.

The Blues finished above the Cats on the ladder by a solitary point, a buffer they gained through a bonus-point victory in the final match of the season.

And while there were moments throughout the grand final itself, Negi holds that final round win accountable for the Blues’ triumph.

“Geelong would’ve taken it out if they had finished on top,” she said.

“The important round for us was the last round, we were playing Prahran and we worked really, really hard.

“We got three or four bonus points throughout the season and they all helped us, especially the Prahran game.

“We kept saying ‘we need to keep fighting for these bonus points, god knows what will happen, we want to finish on top of the ladder’.”

Carlton Third XI premiership side. Picture: CM Thomas Photography

Team Manager Adam Power and Negi did their homework throughout the week and were aware that a tied finish would mean the Blues would be premiers.

So, when Maddison Pearse nudged the levelling run, the pair knew they were victorious.

“At eight wickets down in the last over, first ball I think it was, Adam (Power) and I looked at each other because we knew,” she said.

“We gave each other a quiet hug, our girls didn’t know, they’re so young, they wouldn’t have had the energy to look at all of these things.

“We knew if the scores were level we would win, so Adam and I gave each other a hug and said we’ve got this.

“We wanted to keep it lowkey because last year we went out in the semi-final and it hurt us, it really hurt us, so we wanted to be humble.”

Chand Negi and Adam Power securing the flag. Picture: CM THOMAS PHOTOGRAPHY

Losing a quick wicket with the scores still tied, Negi says she wasn’t mentally ready to bat and felt there was very little restriction knowing the result had already fallen her way.

“I probably wasn’t mentally ready to go, I thought my girls would get another run,” she explained.

“The second ball, my mentality was to treat it like a free hit like we do in the nets, unfortunately it went up and got caught.

“I probably should’ve just tried to get one run, but when you’re in the hype and the moment.

“On Frogbox you can see I go to my teammate at the other end, Geelong went crazy because they thought it was going to be a joint premiership.”

By taking the final wicket, Geelong was under the impression the premiership would be tied.

Negi, 42, has missed one game for the Blues in the last three seasons, playing in an over-40s competition which was also decided in a drawn grand final, but that time the silverware was shared.