AGONY and ecstasy, criticism and condemnation… a sometimes controversial, always exciting A Grade Division 1 semi-final, between Leongatha Town and Nerrena, on the time-honoured Leongatha turf, had it all at the weekend.
In the end, it was Leongatha Town which squeaked through to the final in unconvincing style, by just nine runs, as the balance in the match seemed to swing on every run scored and every wicket taken.
Town, it must be said, batting first, didn’t make enough runs, finishing in the 76th of 90 overs with 175 runs on the board, featuring a half century by Madura Madusanka (51) but not much else.
The decision by Nerrena to put them in appeared a master stroke.
Play had been marred by an unrelenting north-westerly gale, sweeping across the ground, and it was to the credit of the Nerrena bowlers, especially Tim Wightman 5/57 off 21, that they were able to maintain an excellent line and length.
Nerrena were in the box-seat, especially after negotiating the remaining overs on Saturday, and going to stumps at a breezy 0/33 with openers Mitchell Clark and Luke Gilliam untroubled.
They added a few more runs to their overnight score in the much cooler conditions on Sunday morning and the side still looked to be coasting at 1/71 before the menacing Town duo of Madura Madusanka and Mudassar Riaz struck in decisive fashion.
Madura produced errors from Luke Gilliam and Hayden Funnell, caught behind in quick succession by Ben Hanrahan and Jesse Giardina but it was Riaz who really put the Nerrena bats on their heels with a fiery spell of bouncers and sharp deliveries, at one stage on a hattrick after Tim Wightman and Tadgh Gannon were fired out LBW in successive balls.
It was well and truly ‘game on’ at 5/75 and the tension overflowed into some vociferous appealing by the Town bowlers and fielders, which on two occasions had to be reined in by umpire Glenn Plymin, calling on Town captain Jesse Giardina to discipline his troops.
The umpires themselves didn’t get off Scott-free criticized afterwards for some questionable decisions.
However, while the Nerrena opener, one of the comp’s best batsmen Mitchell Clark was still holding the fort, hopes were high of a Nerrena victory.
He continued to play the bowling with ease, and the Town tactics of allowing Clark the easy single to expose his lower-order partners didn’t appear to be paying off for the Scorpions as first Joel Renden and then Jarrod Hoy looked to steady the ship.
Jarrod in particular had a solid defence plus an ability to hit out at the bad balls, to first support his cousin Mitchell Clark, and then take on a leadership role when Clark played his only errant shot of the innings, a poorly-timed, uppish drive to Madusanka at cover, out for 66.
Especially with his captain Caine Salmon 20, who happily punished any wayward deliveries, Hoy continued to look untroubled until he was controversially given caught behind by the wicket-keeper Ben Hanrahan off Madusanka – neither the batsman nor the wicketkeeper appearing to know Hoy had snicked the ball.
Hanrahan had whipped off bails in a slick piece of work, and Hoy was professing his innocence by showing where his back foot was anchored but unbeknown to pair, Hoy had been given out caught behind.
Reduced to 9/160, still 15 runs adrift, it looked to be the crucial wicket and soon after Madusanka delivered the coup de gras when Salmon was caught on the boundary by Pandura Jayasinghe just nine runs away from a berth in the final against Phillip Island, who had a much easier passage into the big dance.
For his 51 runs and 5/40, Mandura Madusanka was awarded the man of the match shirt, although Mudassar Riaz was equally impressive with the ball, taking 4/68 in spirited style.