Premier Cricket: Frankston Peninsula chases outright victory in final round

Frankston Peninsula will “give it a good crack’’ as it makes a desperate lunge for a finals berth in Premier Cricket.

Frankston Peninsula paceman Jack Fowler captured three wickets on Saturday. Picture: Valeriu Campan

As Frankston Peninsula coach Paul Boraston says, “funny things happen’’ on the last day of the season.

And the Heat might need something extraordinary to occur this Saturday if they’re to pull off an outright victory over Camberwell Magpies.

Frankston Peninsula needs 10 points to be a chance to snatch a finals berth.

The Heat made a good start to the match last Saturday, reducing Camberwell Magpies to 5-7 before dismissing them for 116 and then reaching 0-43 at stumps.

Boraston said Frankston would go all-out attack on the second day of the game, with a nothing-to-lose attitude.

“We need 10 points,’’ he said.

“The boys will give it everything, we’ll give it a good crack, that’s for sure.

“We had a good chat post game on Saturday night and what we can try. Obviously the first port of call is to get those 74 runs, that’s important to knock them off, and then we’ll go from there and have some plans.’’

Brodie Symons.

James Nanopoulos.

Frankston Peninsula captain James Nanopolous and ex-skipper Brodie Symons were at the heart of the Heat’s sizzling start as the Magpies crashed to 5-7.

“The ball was beating the bat a lot,’’ Boraston said.

“Nano was doing his normal stuff, overcast conditions and the pitch had a bit of grass on it…some edges and LBWs, Brodie was bowling well up the other end.

“It was just the perfect start, we took our catches and the finger went up for most shouts.

“We knew there was going to be a partnership somewhere which there was, the pitch flattened out and the ball got a bit older.

“We kept working through and bowled them out. That was the plan, to bowl them out and be batting at some stage during the day.’’

Nanopolous finished with 3-25 off 17 overs, while Symons (3-34), speedster Jack Fowler (3-38) and spinner Bailen Clarke (1-10) also struck.

In reply, Frankston openers Lachlan Walsh (20) and Vish Bansal (19) took the score to 0-43 off 12 overs before rain ended play early.

The Heat missed out on 25 overs.

Boraston said the Heat would have to move fast on Saturday.

“We’re going to have to take 10 wickets again which is not easy to do, with 90 overs in a day,’’ he said.

“We’ve been bowling teams out of late, so the boys are confident with the ball and we’re taking wickets, but we’ll need to do it quickly and score quickly as well. We need everything to go our way but you never know, the last day of the season funny things happen.’’

Walsh has made a good impression in his first two games of first XI. He made 64 on debut in the previous game.

“He was banging the door down making a lot of runs in the twos,’’ Boraston said.

“In the end with weight of runs, he selected himself. He got 60 odd last week and looked at ease against Greenvale and hardly played a false shot and likewise on Saturday, some really good solid defence and attacked when he needed to. He’s looking up to the level which is great. He’s improved every year which is fantastic. He had a big off season, he scored a lot of runs in England. He’s pretty confident scoring runs.’’

Meanwhile, Frankston Peninsula’s third XI, needing to win to play finals, dismissed Camberwell Magpies for 190 and were 1-34 in reply. Young gun Brodie Matthews did the damage, taking 4-46, and spinner Liam Walsh took 2-32.