by Aerie » Sun Mar 20, 2022 9:45 pm
I sat at the past players lunch a few weeks ago thinking what a missed opportunity. Such a talented group would miss the finals. We were 5/80 against Adelaide, sitting in 5th position, and all of TTG, Uni and Glenelg were flying in their games. Pointon and Fisher put together a valuable partnership to push the total to something that could be defended. It was defended and all eyes turned to Park 25 for the first miracle to play out.
Matthew Sugg hit 146*, using up 283 balls as Southern District, with 0 points registered for the season, batted out 118 overs and used up 9 wickets to hold on for a draw against the reigning premiers. West Torrens would sneak into the 4. Glenelg and University would finish 5th and 6th - very good teams would miss finals. It was a very strong top 6.
To Price Memorial to play the strong batting line up of Sturt, the minor premiers, who would win the toss and bat. A battle of attrition. After being unable to bowl out Uni in the Semi Final the year before, Sturt would reach stumps 5/300 and a repeat was looking a possibility. But, the Eagles would come out on the 2nd morning and bowl Sturt out, giving them the opportunity to score at 5 runs an over over 75 overs to win the game. Unlikely? Not to a couple of Bradman medalists - Smith with 169 and Drew with a quick fire 98 - leading the Eagles to an unlikely victory with 8 balls to spare.
On to the Grand Final and just as it was in the One Day Grand Final, it was a partnership between Gibson and Peters that looked like steering the Eagles to a competitive total. Until an Oakley delivery jumped off a length to break Gibson’s hand. 5 down, as good as 6 it was thought. Then 7 down for 220 - not a bad total, but with just the two tail enders to come it was still advantage Tea Tree Gully. It was surprising to see Gibson return, bat held in left hand, to perhaps support Peters in guiding West Torrens to a competitive 250? It wasn’t expected he and Peters would finish off what they started and put Tea Tree Gully to the sword in the final session. A powerful off drive to the fielder saw the bottom hand come off the bat wincing with pain, before the next ball was smashed high over mid-on to bring up one of the great centuries and an attacking declaration from Drew to give his spearheads 12 overs at TTG before stumps.
Perhaps it was cricket karma from the week before? 34 overs of hard toil in the Semi Final. Cricket is often a patience game, things don’t happen quickly. Except on those odd occasions when everything happens, and that was the 3rd over of Tea Tree Gully’s innings. Johnson picking up 3 wickets in 1 over to have West Torrens with one hand on the trophy overnight. A brilliant one handed catch by Smith at 2nd slip off the bowling of Short got West Torrens’ away on day 2, before Fallins took over from the Henley Beach end, bowling 24 overs straight and picking up 4/61 to cap off an excellent season for him. It seemed only a matter of time and highly likely those Crows supporters at Glenelg Oval would get to the season opener before the first bounce, except for a determined 8th wicket partnership between Somerfield and Oakley ruined those plans. Then, just for a brief moment, I thought surely the cricket gods couldn’t abandon us now. Drew went off concussed after a horrible hit to the head at bat-pad and the Eagles couldn’t buy the 9th wicket. But, patience. The 9th and 10th wickets would come, the final wicket fittingly being an outstanding catch in the outfield from Nielsen.
And so, well deserved celebrations back at Henley Oval and much pride felt for a club with a big heart and plenty of soul.