DDCA: Springvale South coach Paul Hill reveals where his side must improve ahead of crunch final

Springvale South coach Paul Hill reveals what held his side back late in the season as the Bloods continue their quest to reach a fourth consecutive grand final.

Springvale South celebrate a wicket. Picture: Andrew Batsch

Springvale South’s quest for a third DDCA Turf 1 premiership in four years is alive and well despite a lack of “consistent performances” which plagued its late season form.

If the Bloods can topple Hallam Kalora Park this weekend, they would book their ticket in a fourth consecutive grand final – all of which would have been played against fellow DDCA force Buckley Ridges.

But that is a big if according to Springvale South coach Paul Hill, who was full of praise for the Hawks.

“They’ve beaten us really comfortably both times this season, we’ll try a couple of things a bit different,” Hill said.

“They’ve improved a lot and I’ve been really impressed with them over the past 12 months.

“We probably had the wood over them the last few seasons, this year they’ve recruited (Damith Perera) and he’s a star, Mahela (Udawatte’s) had a really good season, their bowlers have been good players for a long time and they’ve been really good this year.

“It’ll be a good challenge and we’re hoping we can turn the tables on the earlier results.”

From two meetings this season – albeit both one-day clashes – the Bloods have failed to score above 132 against Hallam, and in their last four home and away games they were defeated by each of their three fellow finalists.

Springvale South’s Paul Hill appeals for a wicket. Picture: Valeriu Campan

“We’ve really struggled with consistency with our team to be honest, we’ve had injuries at different times and weddings,” Hill said.

“We just haven’t had a consistent team in place and that’s been tough to juggle.”

Hill added he believed his side has also struggled to put good batting and bowling performances together in the same game.

“We probably haven’t had a consistent performance with both bat and ball which has been a little bit disappointing,” he said.

“We’re trying to find a way to get that to happen this weekend, we’ll see how we go.”

Springvale South progressed to the preliminary final after a hard fought win over Berwick at Arch Brown Reserve last weekend.

The Bears grinded their way to 8-291 from their 80 overs, before the Bloods chased it down with four wickets and 17 balls to spare.

It was a solid run chase, with five of their top seven batsmen reaching at least 40.

“It was pretty tough through the whole two days to be honest,” Hill said of the clash.

“The wicket was pretty flat, it was a bit of a battle for two days but it was good to come out on top.

“I thought it was pretty even over the whole weekend, every time there was a partnership over the whole two days someone got a wicket to bring it back to even again.

“I don’t think we ever felt really comfortable – we knew how hard it was on Saturday after tea so we just wanted to make sure we kept wickets in hand and made it difficult for them.”

Having returned to their familiar winning ways, Hill’s confident The Bloods can keep the momentum rolling for another two weeks.

“It doesn’t matter what’s happened before … you’ve just got to play your best cricket on that particular weekend,” Hill said.

“We always give ourselves a chance, we know we’ve got the talent.

“We’ve had some fantastic games against both Hallam and Buckley the last few years, whatever happens over the next two weekends for everyone there’ll be pretty tight battles.

“Hopefully we can build momentum and have another crack at a flag.”