Eastern Cricket Association: East Doncaster edges North Balwyn in a Dunstan Shield thriller
East Doncaster held its nerve to win the Dunstan Shield grand final in a heartstopper against North Balwyn at Zerbes Reserve over the weekend.
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East Doncaster held its nerve to win the Dunstan Shield grand final in a heartstopper against North Balwyn at Zerbes Reserve over the weekend.
In pursuit of North Balwyn’s opening day total of 192, East Doncaster had wiped half the deficit from the slate after Cameron Crowley and skipper Matt Vaiano blazed an opening stand of 106 in less than an hour and a half.
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But, led by veteran newball bowler James Binney (4-72 off 20.1 overs), the Bulls dragged themselves back into the match and, with wickets tumbling and pulses quickening, East Doncaster fell to 8-184 before Riley Jones and Michael Lukic nudged it over the line, one ball into the 55th over.
North Balwyn won the toss and elected to bat first on Saturday but lost Elliot Forbes without a run on the board. When James O’Connell (3) and skipper Nitesh Patel (19) fell to Kyle Hoath with the score at 3-25, North was on the ropes.
Max Tomkinson, 55 off 98 balls in 86 minutes with 10 boundaries, bankrolled a middle-order rally, well supported by Tom Meredith, who grafted 25 off 77 balls in 75 minutes with three fours.
But with Tomkinson’s dismissal at 5-112, honours were firmly in the East Doncaster camp.
John Howell and Kaushick Maheshwaran stuck around for a while and provided support for Richard Macafee as he launched a rearguard action but, at 7-135, North Balwyn was facing an uphill battle to set a competitive target.
Macafee and Binney pushed on for a 41-run stand that revived the Bulls fortunes before Binney fell for 12 off 40 balls in a vital 40-minute stay.
Macafee (56 off 108 balls in 111 minutes with 4 fours) was the ninth man out with the score at 192 before the innings closed soon after without further addition to the score in 79.2 overs. Rob Sayer led the East Doncaster attack with 4-47 off 27.2 overs while Riley Jones had 3-33 and Hoath 2-15.
After Sunday’s early fireworks from Crowley and Vaiano, North Balwyn finally broke through when O’Connell trapped Crowley LBW for 44, his knock coming off 70 balls with 6 fours and a six.
After the initial setback, East Doncaster continued to press towards the target, Vaiano eventually out for 79 off 91 balls with 16 fours and a six.
The loss of the skipper triggered a hiccup and East Doncaster lost Sayer (16) and Trent Carpenter (1) to slip to 4-158. And when Peter Jordan (13) and Kamasen Nayager (2) both fell with the score at 157, things were getting decidedly tense.
Binney then had James Green caught by Howell for 1 and the Bulls were stampeding.
Peter Thompson steadied the ship, taking East within eight runs of the premiership but, when he was trapped LBW by Binney for 17, there were still some fingernails to be chewed.
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