FROGS JUMP TIGERS
Murgheboluc impresses in season opener
A MASTERLY all-round performance from Jason Grozdanovski led Murgheboluc to a surprise victory over Torquay.
Grozdanovski starred with bat and ball in the season opener, grabbing 2-8 in a brilliant spell of bowling before leading the successful run chase with a half-century.
It was a shock result at King Lloyd Reserve, with last year’s grand finalist soundly beaten as the Frogs hauled in the Tigers’ 9-144 with eight wickets in hand.
But first-year Murgheboluc skipper Daniel Grozdanovski was not surprised to cause a boilover.
“Coming into the game, we were confident,” Daniel said.
“Every player in the team played ones last season, and apart from our new recruit Asher (Hart), everyone had played at the club before.
“So we always thought we were a chance, but it’s always hard when you come down a division. We know their names, but you don’t really know how they bat and how they bowl so it was a bit of a learning curve.
“But we were pretty happy with the win. I know a lot of people didn’t think we would win, but we were always quietly confident coming down from GCA1 that we had enough depth in our side and that we’d be really competitive in GCA2.”
Winning the toss and sending the Tigers in, the Frogs were on song early.
Import Hart bowled with good pace, while Daniel and Jason Grozdanovski produced tidy spells to restrict Torquay’s scoring.
Tigers captain-coach Dale McDonald was patient with 34 from 78, but few of his teammates got going on a slow wicket.
It was an inspired decision by Grozdanovski to bowl first, allowing his players time to assess the pitch.
“We haven’t trained a whole lot on turf, so we thought we’d have a bowl and see how the pitch played, so when we went into bat we’d have a better understanding of how the wicket would play,” Daniel said.
“I don’t mind bowling first in one dayers, it gives you a chance to see what’s going on, you know what you’re chasing and it allows you to set up a little bit better.
“It was a pretty true wicket, but it was just a little bit slow. We haven’t had a lot of hot weather, so no one is going to have a dry, hard pitch at this time of year.
“Once the white ball went soft after about 20-30 overs it’s quite hard to score.”
With a small total on the board, Daniel Grozdanovski knew that a solid start would break Torquay’s spirit.
“Chasing 140 you know you have to get off to a good start and Jase did that perfectly,” Daniel said. “We wanted to be positive from the word go and it was always going to be easier to score when the ball was hard, so we needed to come out with a positive intent so the boys could get a solid start and set up the innings.”
Daniel praised brother Jason, who absorbed the early pressure and constructed the perfect innings, finishing with 56. “He just played it well,” Daniel said. “There were times when he scored quite freely and there were times when he got bogged down for a couple of overs but he managed to free himself up,” he said.
“He was there for 33 overs, so it wasn’t lightning quick, but he scored when he needed to and got the runs on the board early when the ball was hard.”
“I know a lot of people didn’t think we would win, but we were always quietly confident coming down from GCA1 that we had enough depth in our side and that we’d be really competitive in GCA2.” — DANIEL GROZDANOVSKI