St Bernard’s celebrates rare feat - a win in all four Subbies grades
St Bernard’s completed its first clean sweep since moving to the VSDCA as the Snowdogs’ First XI knocked off Preston in a see-sawing clash, Chris Spinella starring with bat and ball.
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St Bernard’s celebrated a rare achievement on Saturday — a win in all four grades of the VSDCA senior ranks.
It marked the first time the Snowdogs had achieved the feat since crossing from the VTCA in 2016.
“Not only that, but the first time in eight years or thereabouts since we’ve had all four grades win,” St Bernard’s coach Nigel Freebairn said.
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The Snowdogs’ First and Second XIs were too good for Preston, while the Third and Fourth XIs enjoyed wins over Altona.
In the top grade, Preston won the toss and sent the home team in at St Bernard’s College and had instant success, with Jordan Mills out on the seventh ball of the innings.
The momentum flipped when Chris Spinella (51) joined opener Tim Grant (56) in the middle as their team teetered at 2-23.
The pair put on 97 runs for the third wicket before both fell to the Bullants’ teenage spinner Althaf Nizam (4-37).
Upul Bandara (30) and Tristan Kassis (27) made solid contributions as the Snowdogs reached 8-203 from their 45 overs.
“We actually thought we were about 30 runs short of par,” Freebairn said.
“We know they’ve got a really strong batting line-up – they put 360 on us last year in a washout – so we knew our bowling would have to be spot on.”
Aaron Smillie (3-35) gave St Bernard’s the perfect start, snaring opener Matthew Staples with the fourth ball of the innings.
The Bullants looked set for a comfortable win at 2-121 until Ameya Gharat removed star opener Daniel Gregory (51).
Spinella then proved his worth with the ball as well as the bat, the off-spinner trapping Gayan De Silva (37) lbw before removing Mahesh Kodamullage (13), with Preston collapsing to be all out 186.
The win lifted St Bernard’s back into the VSDCA top six after dropping out due to the previous week’s defeat to Caulfield.
The Snowdogs will host Oakleigh in a rescheduled Round 3 clash this weekend.
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