Richmond claims the Premier Cricket Dowling Shield title with dramatic win

Richmond produced two amazing performances to storm to a drought-breaking Dowling Shield title. Find out who starred for the Tigers.

Richmond celebrates its Dowling Shield victory. Picture: Ben Higgins

Late drama couldn’t stop Richmond’s stunning charge to a drought-breaking Dowling Shield title.

The Tigers claimed a five-wicket win over Melbourne in the Premier Cricket under-16 grand final at the Junction Oval.

Three late wickets and a sudden heavy downpour added a touch of theatre to the finale as Richmond chased down the Demons’ 132 in the 28th over.

Ranbir Singh was named man-of-the-match after a superb all-action performance that saw him take 3-24, two catches, get a run-out and score a critical 35.

Griffin Box was equally impressive scoring 51, the match’s only half-century, after also taking 2-27 with the ball.

Richmond stars Ranbir Singh and Griffin Box. Picture: Ben Higgins

Tigers coach, First XI player, Jonathan D’Rozario said the team had produced its best at the right time.

“The boys have played really, really well throughout the carnival,” D’Rozario said.

“We lost the first T20 but the boys were pretty quick to get back on the horse and have never looked back, we just got better and better.

“The preliminary final, we showed what we could do with the bat and then today we put it all together with a complete performance.

“The boys definitely brought it at the right time of the year.”

Melbourne won the toss and elected to bat first but were in early trouble and lost wickets regularly.

Luke McCann (2-13) took the first two wickets of the match before Box and Singh took control.

However, Richmond was in early strife itself at 2-8 as Charlie Morris and captain Jack Czosnek – who scored 149 in the preliminary final – fell cheaply.

Richmond celebrates its Dowling Shield victory. Picture: Ben Higgins

Hugh Lynch (23 from 23 balls) helped turn the game back in the Tigers favour, combining with Box for a 39-run partnership

Box and Singh then produced the match-winning 73-run partnership before the former was out with just 12 runs remaining.

Singh then fell with two runs needed for victory and Xavier Martin holed out with scores even, a 3-12 collapse, leaving Siddhant Goel to hit the winning runs.

D’Rozario said it was a special performance.

“We weren’t too displeased (losing the toss), we hadn’t taken too many wickets with the new ball so that was one of our goals,” he said.

“The boys bowled perfectly, big Noah Montgomery and Luke McCann led the attack with early wickets and then we were able to squeeze through the middle.

“Hughey has been positive at the top and even when we lost early wickets he continued to back his game and Griffin, after two hundreds, does what he does, accumulates, and got another 50.

“It’s really special for us to win it the first year back in the under-16 age group.

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“The best part is these boys get to play with each other in the years to come across under-18s and then into senior cricket.”

For Melbourne, Max Kondogiannis top-scored with the bat, posting 30 from 34 balls, while Roland Murphy added late runs with 20 not out.

Archie McManamny was the leading wicket-taker with 2-10.

In the Marg Jennings Cup, Geelong defeated Prahran by 59 runs at Jubilee Park in Ringwood.