Chase ends in painful loss
Grubbers fall on sword
OCEAN Grove’s push to play on Saturday ended up being to its detriment as it suffered a 21run loss to Queenscliff.
As cricket across the region was called off due to rain, Ocean Grove’s clash with Queenscliff and St Leonard’s clash with Anglesea were the only BPCA A1 games to play.
Both games didn’t get on the ground until 4 o’clock, with Ocean Grove needing 109 runs to win.
Grubbers captain Dan Roddis said his side was “clearly” the only team “keen to play”.
“Four o’clock we started, we wouldn’t have got on at all if we didn’t do anything about it, all 11 Ocean Grove players were on the wicket at tea … for half an hour getting the water off while all 11 Queenscliff players watched from the rooms,” he said.
“Clearly we were the only ones that we were keen to play.
“Queenscliff said they were keen but then showed no enthusiasm to help do anything with the wicket.”
Queenscliff captain-coach Frank Mileto said he feared that play wouldn’t start.
“The amount of water that was on the pitch, I honestly didn’t think that we would be able to get on,” he said.
“Ocean Grove were pretty keen to get on, they were out there as soon as it stopped with their blowers and brooms and stuff and got the pitch looking all right. It was fairly windy which sort of dried the pitch out a little bit.
“I was keen to play, but I honestly thought that it wasn’t going to happen … but glad we sort of got on.”
With Ocean Grove 2-55 at the start of the day chasing 163, Mileto said consistent bowling was going to put his side in a good position.
“We had 33 overs to bowl and I said to the boys basically, ‘If we can put it in an area, create a bit of pressure, get a few quick wickets, cricket’s a funny game’,” he said.
“We sort of took constant wickets and were lucky enough to get that last wicket with two overs to go, it was pretty exciting for the boys.”
Roddis said in the position his side was in, he would back them in “99 per cent of the time” to get the win.
“Just losing wickets in clumps I think, sort of puts you a little bit behind the Eight ball, you get a couple of bad decisions go against you as well, just makes it hard,” he said.
“You only need 108 with eight wickets in hand, you back yourself in 99 per cent of the time.
Anglesea proved too strong for St Leonard’s, while Barrabool’s clash with Jan Juc and Inverleigh’s clash with Armstrong Creek were declared draws.