Sub-District cricket: Caulfield defeats Ormond in south-east grand final
Graeme Rummans, 44, played in his 11th First XI premiership as Caulfield overpowered Ormond in the grand final.
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Caulfield won the toss and batted.
And it batted its way to a formidable total that was the foundation of another premiership for the iconic Sub-District club.
The Fielders on Saturday claimed their fourth flag in nine years after routing Ormond in the south-east section grand final at EE Gunn Reserve.
They won by 121 runs, and their champion allrounder and captain Jacob Thorne won the Jack Sheehan Medal as man of the match, another award in his outstanding Sub-District career.
Half-centuries from Thorne (59) and the great Graeme Rummans (50) led Caulfield to 7-203.
The suspicion was the Fielders had enough when they went past 160.
It was confirmed long before Rodney Bird was the last man out for Ormond at 5.55pm, the host’s innings ending at 82.
Monders captain Ben Speake and James Wild had made a perky start in the run chase, with Speake spanking some drives and pulling Caulfield paceman Andy King into the trees on the Malane St side of The Gunn.
Rain appeared and caused a brief delay in play, with the umpires calling for the covers.
When it resumed, Lachie Graf castled Speake for 20.
A few overs later Wild (15), perhaps feeling all the scoring was on him as his partner Sachin Varadajaran struggled to get away the bowling, dabbed young Jayden Banks to Graf at slip.
Only two other batsmen reached double figures.
It took Varadajaran 40 balls to get his 10 and Tom Buchanan, who had drilled a half-century from the No 3 position in the qualifying final victory over Caulfield, made 15 off 32 balls from No 5. A batting line-up that was at times unconvincing in the home-and-away rounds was badly found out.
The Fielders shared the wickets – King took 2-27 off six overs, Graf 1-21 off six, Dale Denny 2-12 off 6.2, Banks 1-12 off five and Thorne 2-7 off five.
And the run-outs of Dylan Rhys-Jones and Blade Baxter underscored Caulfield’s brilliance in the field. It was a contrast with Ormond, which ran over a few balls and twice gave away overthrows.
Caulfield had lost young Josh Agar early in its innings, caught by wicketkeeper Speake up to the stumps off the bowling of Brendan Barry.
Thorne replaced Agar and with David Tantsis-Hall took the score to 70.
Barry thought he had Tantsis-Hall LBW when he was on nine, but the umpire disagreed.
The powerful left-hander played some crunching strokes, blitzing Barry through cover and pulling left-arm paceman Baxter for another boundary.
But just as he was hitting out, he was run out, for 37, answering Thorne’s call for a single, only to be caught short by a brilliant direct-hit from an advancing Buchanan at point.
In came Rummans – and out of the match went Ormond.
The Thorne-Rummans partnership was worth 79 and it was achieved with risk-free batting. They took singles, picked up twos, hit the occasional boundary and ran hard between the wickets.
A dab for two to wide third man brought up Thorne’s 50, off 81 balls, a controlled innings from a calculating batsman.
Rummans might have played the shot of the day with the whip through mid-wicket off Nick Oaten that took him to 36.
In the same over Oaten bowled a charging Thorne, his 59 coming off 88 balls and including 5 fours.
Rummans brought up his 50 with a single behind square but he could add no more to his score, clipping Baxter to Rhys-Jones at deep mid-wicket.
Jono Aikins (21 off 17) and Denny (18 off seven, including 2 sixes in the last over) lifted the Fielders past 200 for the first time all season. They saved their best for last.
“I fear they’ve got a few too many for us,’’ an Ormond supporter said at the change of innings. And he was right, although the way Speake attacked the new ball inspired hope among the Monders’ faithful.
After the match former VSDCA president and Caulfield great Jack Sheehan presented the medal named in his honour to Thorne, who could add it to four Val Holten Medals and three premierships. He is one of the most decorated players in the history of Sub-District cricket.
It was a tough loss for the Monders, who had come from fifth to host the grand final.
Still, it was a sterling season for the club: four of its five senior teams made the finals and eight of its nine junior sides did the same. The Under 14A and Under 16A teams won premierships and Under 12A lost the grand final in the last over.
Speake said his team was “thoroughly outplayed’’ and praised Caulfield’s ability to bounce back from the qualifying finals loss at Caulfield Park.
He called the Fielders a “champion line-up’’.
It was first premierships at Caulfield for Tantsis-Hall, Agar, Banks, Aikins and Aaron Fetter.
Coach Adrian Jones said the inclusion of young players Agar, Banks and Aikins was a pleasing element of the flag.
“That was what they wanted to do when they appointed me in a development-type coaching role, to focus on that next group coming through,’’ he said.
At the other end of the age scale, Rummans, 44, was enjoying his 11th First XI premiership: three at Caulfield, four at St Kilda in Premier Cricket and four at St George in Sydney Grade cricket.
“Still enjoy playing and will keep playing while I physically can, and, yeah, hopefully win some more,’’ the former first-class batsman said.
“This one is fairly satisfying because of last year (Caulfield made it to the grand final cancelled by COVID-19 and the premiership was awarded to Oakleigh). The way the season has panned out, just fantastic. Great club, great group of boys.’’
Jones said his former St Kilda teammate remained an outstanding player.
“He batted very well from ball one. He hit the first sweetly in the middle and he was away,’’ he said.
As for Thorne, Jones described him as “very hungry and competitive’’.
“He’d eat a cricket ball if he could,’’ he said. “He gets what he deserves, because he puts in a lot of time and effort.’’
Oakleigh won the Second XI premiership, defeating Brighton; Mt Waverley is flying a flag after beating Moorabbin in the Third XI decider; and Box Hill got past Oakleigh in a low-scoring Fourth XI grand final.
Former Victorian wicketkeeper Peter Roach played in Mt Waverley’s team with his son Angus.
PREMIERSHIP PLAYERS
Caulfield First XI: Josh Agar, David Tantsis-Hall, Jacob Thorne, Graeme Rummans, Jon Aikins, Dale Denny, Aaron Fetter, Lachie Graf, Jayden Banks, James Small, Andy King
Oakleigh Second XI: John O’Keefe, Satvik Verma, Robert Howes, Andrew Splatt, Anthony Howes, Connor Byrne, James Ritchie, William Iverson, Josh Knight, Matt Stamps, Zach Raymond, Tharindu Goniya Malimegue
Mt Waverley Third XI: Jaegerjeet Sagoo, Adam Ternes, Stephen Golding, Lachlan Carter, Peter Roach, Angus Roach, Oliver Greally, Prabodha Jayasiri, Kaelan Scully, Avi Kaul, Videsh Wagh, Vimalan Jeremiah
Box Hill Fourth XI: Glenn Comte, James Arnberger, Peter Lazer, Pasandul De Silva, Steven Flinn, Sam Blake, Daniel Pietz, David Blake, Adam Joseph, Ben Hammond, Dylan Thomas
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