Pascoe Vale Central wins its fourth NWMCA Luscombe Shield premiership in a row
Pascoe Vale Central put its hand up as one of the most dominant local cricket clubs in Australia, winning it’s fourth straight flag and ninth in 19 years.
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Pascoe Vale Central has established itself as one of the most dominant local cricket clubs in Australia.
The club claimed its fourth consecutive North West Metro Luscombe Shield premiership on Sunday, defeating arch-rival Buckley Park 2-0 in the best-of-three grand final series at Buckley Park.
Central’s quad-trick takes the club to nine titles in the last 19 years and a record-breaking fifth and 10 in 20 years is in its sights.
A seven-wicket win in Game 1 on Saturday was followed by a dominant 150-run victory on Sunday to wrap up the premiership.
Nathaniel Biggs was awarded the grand final medal for the best player after a match-winning 87 in the opening game and 22 in the clincher.
Nine players have played in all four consecutive premierships, while two – Brett Barron and Paul Tripp have played in all nine and two more in eight overall.
Central captain Cameron Hare said the past two flags had extra meaning.
“It’s hard to rank them,” he said.
“In term of grand final wins I think 2018-19 was one of the most pleasing, not because I didn’t play, but it’s a pretty big thing not to have your captain available and Buckley Park at the time was really strong.
“The last two years have been really pleasing because in reality we’re a better two-day team … we’ve still got some handy one-day bats but it did make us more vulnerable I thought.
“To get two wins in the two years of one-day cricket was really pleasing and it was a bit of a motivating factor as well because we thought it brought up back to the pack a little bit.”
Pascoe Vale Cental won just one of it’s opening five games this season but came home like a freight train.
Including the two grand final victories, the club won nine of the last 11 games with one wash out.
“It’s been a consistent theme for us … we’re generally up and down in the first half of the year,” Hare said.
“If you went back to ladders half way through the year, we’re usually somewhere in the middle, and then we come good because everyone makes sure they’re available after January.
“We were fifth or sixth at Christmas and then, including the grand finals, we won nine of the last 11.
Despite Jarrod Milczak’s 50, Buckley Park were bowled out for 184 in Game 1 with Cameron Milich taking 3-21 and Biggs playing a central role in the chase, finishing the game in 29 overs.
On Sunday, Central batted first and racked up a mammoth 7-278 with Barron (66), Paul Tripp (64) and Hare (57) doing the damage.
Daniel Barassi, Liam Ford, Paul Tripp and Milich all took a brace as Buckley Park was dismissed for 128.
Hare believed the three-game series played into his team’s hands.
“I thought the three-game series made it hard to beat us,” he said.
“Anyone can have a bad day, especially in one-day cricket, Preston Druids were bottom at the time and we lost to them three weeks ago.
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“I think once you get to a best-of-three, I thought we’d have to have a really bad weekend to lose two games.”
Pascoe Vale Central’s Second XI and Third XI are currently locked one-all with Chargers and Northern Lions respectively in the Stringer Shield and Attwater Shield grand final series with the deciders to be played on Saturday.
However, Central’s women’s team lost the Law Shield grand final to Pascoe Vale Hadfield by eight wickets.
Elsewhere in the NWMCA, Gladstone Park claimed the Kyte Shield title with 79-run and 20-run wins over RMIT.
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