BENTLEIGH Uniting made it back-to-back Longmuir Shield premierships when it won a thrilling grand final over East Sandringham
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BENTLEIGH Uniting made it back-to-back Longmuir Shield premierships for the second time in the club’s history when it won a thrilling grand final over East Sandringham at Hurlingham Park on Sunday.
The game went the distance with the result in doubt until the last ball of the day.
East needed a six off the final delivery to grab the Shield.
It was not to be, but that was just one small part of a scintillating, pressure packed match.
Day one began with Uniting batting after winning the toss.
But the standard was set in the opening over by East fast bowler Jayme Saleem, who put the opening batsmen under the microscope immediately.
However, it was Pat Singh at the other end who made the first break, removing Tom Backman (3) via a smart leg side stumping by Brett Hampton in the fourth over.
Tim Brisbane (5) and Luke Manders (7) got through the rest of the opening blitz but both fell shortly after to brilliant catches by Anton Duddy in the gully, both from the bowling of Brendan Bennett, to leave Uniting 3-23.
When Longmuir Shield player of the year Ash Russell (13) was trapped in front shortly after by Singh, the scoreboard read 4-34 and Uniting was in all sorts of trouble.
Run scoring was difficult due to the accurate bowling and sharp fielding of East Sandringham.
Glenn Lalor and Simon Richards played with plenty of caution to scrape through to the tea break without further loss at 4-59 after 38 overs of tense cricket.
The duo did their best to lift the run rate upon the resumption, but free scoring remained off the agenda as East Sandy continued its hard nosed, disciplined approach.
After a 66-run stand and with the score at an even 100 Richards slapped a catch to Luke Dallas at cover to be caught for 29.
And when Damian Britt let one go and lost his off stump to Saleem a few balls later, East re-established control of the contest.
Callum Cathcart (5) and Harry Zaia (0) came and went quickly and at 8-123 it was starting to look like East had one hand on the flag.
But Lalor remained and Uniting’s leader is a resilient and intelligent player.
With assistance from Liam Hard, he set about trying to post a competitive total as the overs dwindled.
It turned out to be a match-winning partnership as the pair added 50 off the final 12 overs of the day to eke out 173 before Caillan Austin trapped Hard in front of his stumps for 19 on the final ball of the day.
Lalor held firm throughout in a great display of temperament to remain undefeated on 67 off 151 balls.
Austin (3-48), Singh (2-28 off 25 overs) and Saleem (2-63 off 24 overs) were superb in their work for East.
On Sunday, East started positively, despite losing Mark Devereaux (11).
Luke Dallas and Anton Duddy were in cruise control at 1-60. But Luke Manders turned the game on its head when he removed Dallas (17), Guy Martyn (2) and Hampton (0) in the space of two overs.
With the three East prime movers back in the shed and the score at 4-62, the contest was all of a sudden reignited.
In similar circumstances to day one, Duddy was left to steady the innings with assistance from Daniel Corp.
The pair put together a slow but crucial recovery and virtually mirrored Uniting’s position from day one when Corp was bowled by Russell with the score stuck on 109 after a painstaking but solid 19.
It looked set to be an even go for the last 15 overs.
It proved to be so as Duddy played a virtual lone hand for his team.
Bennett provided some support and East looked winners again with 22 required from the last four overs with five wickets in hand.
But there were plenty of twists and turns still to come.
Two of Uniting’s key men were to play a big part as veteran paceman Simon Surridge clean bowled Bennett and Russell nipped out Brett Gibb (4) and Austin (1) and Saleem (0) was run out.
After a man-of-the-match performance Duddy (88no) was able to gather only two off the final ball of the match to leave his team just shy of its requirement.
Russell (3-34 off 18 overs) had ice in his veins in the final overs and Manders (3-29) turned the tide when East was cruising.
It was an absorbing contest from the first ball to the last and a perfect advertisement for local cricket.
All players from both sides made a significant contribution to a stunning game.
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