Ocean Grove inflicted Anglesea’s first loss of the Bellaring Peninsula Cricket Association season in a performance captain Fletcher Long described as “nearly the best win I’ve ever played in”.
With three balls remaining and two required to tie the scores, Ned Thorley lofted Ben Harcombe just out of reach of mid-on’s hands to bring up the three runs to win the game with two wickets in hand.
“I think to win off the second last ball against the top side, you don’t do that very often,” Long said.
“He (Thorley) showed great composure. He’s probably a bit better than a number nine bat.
“He knew he’s probably going to get one more that he could hit that over with the field up. He didn’t panic, kicked away the first three and then got one in his zone and put it away.”
Although Anglesea wasn’t at full strength, missing Brett Venables, Mick Thornton and Ollie Huby, the side still had a lot of starpower and Long is hoping the win will be a sign of things to come.
“The last month or so training has been off the charts and we’ve been putting in so much work and to see it come off on a day like today is great,” he said.
“I think that’s got to be a bit of a spark now to keep it going and hopefully get a win next week or at least just play the type of cricket that we know we can play now.”
Ocean Grove did well to restrict Anglesea to 8/165 with underrated leg-spinner Alex Mann taking 3/17 from eight overs.
“He’s (Mann) obviously not from our end (underrated) – we rate him so highly,” Long said.
“He just does his job every week. He’s quite tall so he gets that turn and bounce, which on the hard wicket it’s pretty hard to face.
“I know that I can throw him the ball and I know what I’m going to get. I can set a field and you know that most weeks he’s going to jag at least a couple of wickets so he’s someone I rely on a lot.”
Ocean Grove time its run chase to perfection with Shaun Fankhauser (69 from 107 deliveries) and Long (30 off 42) playing well at the top of the order.
Next up the Grubbers take on arch rivals Barwon Heads in a two-day game to finish off 2024.
“They’re obviously going really well and we had a bit of a stinker the last time we played them, so I think we’re all pretty keen, especially after a day like today coming in with a bit of momentum to hopefully put up a similar performance,” Long said.
ARMSTRONG Creek won a low-scoring clash against Drysdale. Clay Mulgrew took his season’s run tally to 341 with a classy 72 out of the Titans’ score of 118 all out. Blake Dobbin was again the star with the ball with four wickets for the Hawks. Jack Maclean then produced the stunning figures of six wickets for eight runs from eight overs to have Drysdale all out for 80.
JAN JUC defeated Queenscliff with Jake Hewitt taking three wickets and Peter Buszard making a fine 76. Pat Mileto took 3/14 from eight for the Coutas.
MICHAEL Kelson passed 300 runs with a further 83 as Barrabool and Barwon Heads shared the points. Play began late at Ceres with the ground not fit for play on time. Heads‘ debutante Damian Clarke, closing in fast on his 49th birthday, took 3/19 from eight overs for Barwon Heads.
