By David Nagel
The initial reaction of Cardinia (7/162) captain Jake Prosser to his team’s amazing victory over Kooweerup (161) in the WGCA Premier Division Preliminary Final will surprise everybody who was fortunate enough to be at Denhams Road on Saturday.
“I’m lost for words,” Prosser told the Gazette, just minutes after Lachlan Volpe (45 not out) and Leigh Paterson (30 not out) became Bulls’ heroes for life with a magnificent, unbroken, season-defining, 74-run partnership that kept the Bulls’ quest for first-ever back-to-back premierships alive.
“It’s probably the best win I’ve ever played in,” Prosser continued.
“Just from the position we were in, a preliminary final, the chips were down, and for those blokes to put on 74 for that last partnership, at a run a ball, under that much pressure, I haven’t seen much better than that.”
Prosser being lost for words is something that no-one saw coming on Saturday.
He first used his voice to inspire his team in the field after Kooweerup’s two big guns, Chris Bright (25) and Luke McMaster (44) threatened to dethrone the reigning champions…and dethrone them in a hurry.
After a circumspect start, 0/7 off 3, Bright exploded in the fourth over of the match, taking Jack Bacon (0/28 off 3) to the cleaners.
Bright flicked the second ball of the over behind square-leg for four, before smashing a punishing on-drive to the boundary next ball.
He then made it three from three balls, flicking one to almost exactly the same spot where the first one cannoned into the fence.
The Demons were away, and the Bulls had no answers.
Bright and McMaster took 65 off seven overs…Bulls’ players and supporters aside…it was magnificent cricket to watch.
McMaster almost replicated his skippers’ effort, hitting Bacon for three boundaries in four balls, before Matt Welsh (0/20 off 2) replaced Bacon…but received similar treatment of his own.
McMaster went slap, slap, slap again – taking Welsh for 14 in three hits to end his spell as well.
From the far end at Koowee, the Bulls had conceded 45 runs from just five overs.
“I was trying to stay calm and composed as skipper, but they were dominating the game,” Prosser explained, turning both palms to the sky.
“We were bowling two sides, two lengths, and the plan was to tie them down, grind them, but it didn’t happen early.
“We were sort of going through the motions, but then we clicked and we went hard from 10 to 30, which we had to do or we would have been chasing 230.”
While carnage was taking place at one end, at the other was Cardinia’s champion spinner Dwayne Doig (2/28), who was bowling an opening spell – that at the time, and even now – was highly underestimated.
Doig was hit for two fours by Bright in his fourth over, but then produced an absolute touch of class.
Doig tempted Bright with a beautifully flighted delivery that caught the Demons best batter off guard, then off balance, with the ball slipping through to a delighted Bradey Welsh who gleefully whipped off the bails.
The Bulls were back in the game.
And when McMaster hit Nathan Volpe (1/19 off 4) – the third bowler tried from the carnage end – to Prosser at mid-off, the Bulls skipper screamed with delight…certainly not lost for words again.
The Demons were 2/76 – the two big guns gone – now it was definitely game on!
Mitch Davey (8) went a short time later, edging to Nathan Volpe at slip, before a free-flowing Cody Miller (25) and Chris O’Hara (34) put on 45 for the fourth wicket to take the score to 3/132.
Prosser’s pre-game prediction would then prove right, with leg-spinner Lachlan Volpe (3/13 off 8) taking the ball and turning the game on its head.
“We actually spoke about it before the game, the possibility of them losing seven for 30, or something like that, and that’s what happened,” Prosser said.
“Our pressure was there eventually, but it would have been handy to have it a bit earlier.”
Volpe was the big-name recruit for the Bulls this season and was expected to spin a web of intrigue through the competition but, until Saturday, it had generally failed to materialise.
But on Saturday, when Prosser need him most…with no more second chances…Volpe delivered in spades.
He bowled with the precision and control of a high-class wristy, taking the wickets of Miller, Matt Davey (1) and Steve Dillon (8) to rip the heart out of the Demons mid-to-lower order.
The Demons, off a leg-spinner, could score of just eight of his 48 deliveries.
It was mesmerising stuff!
Prosser (2/18) completed the stellar comeback, taking the last two wickets to fall as the Demons lost their last seven wickets for 29 runs.
Then an already great game of cricket elevated itself to new heights.
Alex Nooy (15) the Bulls’ leading run scorer this year, opened the batting with Travis Wheller (45), and they both looked comfortable early.
Matt Bright (0/30) bowled from Doig’s end, while big-game performer Jess Mathers (2/25) took on the task of bowling from the carnage end.
Nooy was first to go, trapped in front by Mathers, who had a handy tail-breeze behind him.
With his tail up, the champion all-rounder then reminded us all of his talents.
He hit the bat hard, and bowled a spell that could easily have reaped a five-wicket haul.
Prosser (18) and Wheller did exceptionally well to survive.
“When he’s played us in the past he hasn’t looked that dangerous but today he was a completely different cricketer,” Prosser said.
“He was steaming in, hitting the pitch hard, and he bowled me probably the best over of bowling I’ve ever faced in my life.
“We were playing what we thought were the right lines but missing the ball by a foot.”
The Demons then struck several telling blows that looked to have ended the Bulls title defence.
A fired-up John Bright (3/20) took the wicket of Prosser, before Mathers found some luck, and the edge of Bradey Welsh’s (1) bat, as the Demons continued their fightback.
Matt Welsh (2) then snicked McMaster (2/23) through to Chris Bright, and when the same pair removed Nathan Volpe (0), and John Bright trapped Jacobus Hynes (0) in front, the Bulls were reeling at 6/85.
And all hopes of a Bulls’ win looked shot when Wheller’s discipline knock, that had lasted until the 25th over of the innings, came to an end after a great running catch from Mitch Davey.
The Bulls were 7/88, having lost 6/29, and required 74 runs to win with exactly 90 balls to face.
Volpe joined Paterson (1) at the crease.
The pair started slowly, taking the score to 7/100 from 30 overs…now needing 62 runs from 60 deliveries.
The partnership never really looked threatening, but came to life when Volpe and Paterson targeted O’Hara (0/36 off 6) in the 37th over.
A Volpe six, and some great running between the wickets, saw 13 come from the over, reducing the target to 24 off three.
Volpe and Paterson then took six singles off Matt Davey’s next over, making it 18 required off 12, before a winner was finally identified in the 39th over.
Paterson, third ball, and Volpe, sixth, both struck fours to leave seven runs required from the final over.
With all the momentum, Paterson then ran a single, before Volpe unleashed a powerful bomb over mid-wicket – off the second ball of the 40th over – to leave the Demons crestfallen and the Bulls running around in raptures.
“We’ve got a team of competitors who just hate losing,” Prosser said proudly, after Paterson and Volpe’s 74-run stand.
“Whether it’s a game of marbles, or a game of cards at the club, whatever it is, they still hate losing and I love playing cricket with people like that.
“We play for one reason, that’s to win the flag, and you can tell by the spirit of the group that they all really want it.”
Not bad for a bloke who said he was lost for words!
