Rolling all the way

Inverleigh times its run to perfection for grand final

THE art of a premiership campaign is built around timing your run.

So it is not surprising to see Inverleigh in this weekend’s grand final against A2 powerhouse Queenscliff at Anglesea’s Ellimatta Reserve given the Kookaburras’ recent form.

With four wins on the trot, including knocking off the competition’s big two in Queenscliff and Winchelsea, the former Geelong Cricket Association club has hit form at the right time.

The rise has come through an improvement in the side’s bowling, with the likes of Locke Perrett and Jasper George emerging as decisive factors in recent weeks.

“We’ve just got a bit of momentum and kept going with that,” experienced batsman David Peel said.

“We feel like we can defend most totals by just bowling that one side of the wicket.”

Last weekend’s semi-final win over Winchelsea vindicated a club belief that something special was starting to come together.

Many pundits had pencilled in a Queenscliff and Winchelsea grand final, but it is Inverleigh who poses the threat of becoming the barnstorming winner of this season’s new second division.

It is a remarkable turnaround for a side that almost missed out on a place in the final four.

“Going into the last round against Newcomb, there was still a chance we could have missed out on finals if Wallington had have knocked off ‘Winch’,” Peel said.

“So we were sort of playing as if every game postChristmas was one we needed to win, as if it was a final.”

The move from the GCA into the BPCA now looks like the right one, having bounced back strongly from a disappointing first-up performance last season.

“I still don’t doubt that if we were still in GCA or GCA3 then we’d be more than competitive, but for us as a club it’s been fantastic, especially this year,” he said.

“We’ve gone from winning three games last year to making a grand final, so I think as a club as a whole we couldn’t be happier.”

A grand final marks a momentous occasion for the small club that is content with still playing deep into March.

“A club like us, we’re happy to be playing a grand final, we’d play a final at a primary school ground if we had to,” Peel said.

“(Anglesea) is not too far away from Inverleigh, so if people want to come and have a look we’d love it.”