Roxburgh Park Broadmeadows claims the VTCA Division 5 premiership

On the brink after leaving Subbies, Roxburgh Park Broadmeadows is fighting back after claiming the VTCA Division 5 premiership.

From the brink of collapse, Roxburgh Park Broadmeadows is VTCA Division 5 premier.

After leaving Sub-District cricket in 2015-16, the club fell on hard times and just four seasons ago the Falcons were mired in the C4 Thomas Shield, the association’s 10th tier.

Fast forward to Sunday and a four-wicket win over Williamstown Congs sparked wild celebrations at Roxburgh Park Oval.

It’s a remarkable turnaround for the club with captain-coach Asif Rasool, president Gurpreet Sandhu and manager Nikhil Khattar playing key roles.

“It was a big milestone for us,” Rasool said.

“I joined the club last season and it was in a very bad state, a lot of the players had left, so we had to start from scratch.

“We missed out on finals last season and this season we only had one objective – to win the grand final, so we can go back up to Division 4.

“I think there was a bit of help from upstairs, from the almighty, and we ended up winning it.

“The club played in a Sub-District grand final eight years ago but the management and coaching side of it was lacking.

“That’s what Gary brought in as president, he brought the administration side of it, and I brought in players and coaching structure and it’s worked perfectly fine.

“From three teams, last season we had nine teams, this season we went from nine teams to 16 teams and that included seven junior teams.

“We won two premierships and two more teams played grand finals, it’s a huge improvement, it’s awesome.”

Roxburgh Park Broadmeadows began the grand final strongly with a five-wicket win last Saturday but Williamstown Congs levelled the series up with a thrilling seven-run victory on Sunday.

However, the Falcons wouldn’t be denied as Rasool claimed 3-36 and finished 24 not out to seal victory, while Satwinder Pannu (2-12), Shahid Mahmood (36) and Abdul Bari Khan Khalil (33) also impressed.

Rasool was awarded the grand final medal after an outstanding series, scoring 79 runs at an average of 79 and taking seven wickets.

The VTCA’s own grand final preview was the catalyst for him premiership-winning form.

“I had to lead from the front,” he said.

“The VTCA published their analysis and they favoured Williamstown Congs because they had five or six batsman that exceeded 200 runs and we only had two guys.

“That made me more determined, I had one thing on my mind, I’m not going to give up my wicket and out of three matches I was not out twice and we won those two finals.

“The wicket I lost, we lost that final, and that was a silly shot and that cost us.”

Rasool admitted there were plenty of nerves before the decider.

“I was very nervous to be honest, I didn’t sleep well,” he said.

“We beat Williamstown Congs in the round game and we had an easy win in the first final but in the second game, we were very close but they snatched the win out of our hands.

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“The way they celebrated … the way they played in the second final I was thinking all the hard work we’ve done so far, I didn’t want to lose in the last game.

“I said to my team, we’re either wearing medals or we pack our bags and we go home – there’ll be no meeting after the game.”

It’s a devastating result for Williamstown Congs, which was looking to bounce straight back up after being relegated from Division 4 last season.

Karandeep Singh was man of the match in Game 2 with 3-33 and 44 and backed it up with 2-37 in Game 3, while Gurjit Singh took 2-21 in Game 1 and hit 46 in Game 3.