Mulgrave silence doubters
NEVER write off a champion club. It just makes them want to win even more.
Mulgrave again exerted their dominance over the Cricket Far North competition, completing an innings and 26-run victory over Norths at Griffiths Park on Sunday.
After play was delayed an hour in the morning to repair water damage to the wicket, the Toads took just 45 minutes to wrap up the match to win a third consecutive title.
If anything showed it would be Mulgrave’s day, it was the wicket of Mitch Warnock, who middled a ball into the covers only for short cover fieldsman Matt Di Salvo to pluck it out of the air at full stretch to his right for a screamer of a catch.
Mulgrave captain Jacob Stanton said it was one of the most satisfying premierships he’d been a part of after early season suggestions the Toads had lost their aura.
“A lot of people started talking that maybe Mulgrave had reached their peak, maybe we were done and maybe it was someone else’s turn so we sort of started to get a little bit of internal fire again,” he said.
Stanton said he was “blown away” at the comprehensiveness of the win and was thrilled at the way his side ended the rout.
“It was good to get a couple of early wickets just to sort of start the day and the last thing we wanted was a little partnership,” he said.
“We talked about, before the start of the game this week: ‘Who was going to be the one? Who was going to be the standout?’ I’m pleased to say there was no standout.
“Everyone contributed and everyone did their job and that’s why I think we continue to have success as a club.”
Norths captain Chris Stanger, who was the last wicket to fall, said the same mistakes had once again cost his side in back-to-back two-day finals.
“Obviously we’re pretty disappointed with the way things panned out,” he said.
“I thought our preparation leading into the weekend was pretty good, we were pretty clear about what we needed to do, but we just couldn’t execute on the weekend and it kind of fell down to the same errors that let us down last week so it’s a shame how it unfolded..
“We’ve just got to take a leaf out of their book and kind of really learn to play some hard, gutsy cricket.
“You’ve got to really bat time.”