Last gasp win saves Leongatha and District's country week

THERE are two boxes you want to tick at the annual Melbourne Country Week Cricket carnival, according to Leongatha and District Cricket Association team manager Kristian Gray.

And when Leongatha Imperials’ captain Jack Ginnane cracked a six off the last ball of Friday’s qualifying final against Wangaratta, during a crucial ninth wicket partnership of 37 runs with Nerrena stalwart Tim Wightman, it was job done on one of those at least.

We seem to remember Jack Ginnane doing something similar in 2020 when he hit a four to secure a one-wicket win over Bairnsdale in a Division Two final at Country Week.

“When you go down to Country Week you’ve got two boxes you want to tick, especially when you are in Provincial (the highest division across country Victoria). One is to stay up in that division and not get relegated and the other is to win it if you can,” said Gray this week.

“We knew we were facing the toughest group up there last week with last year’s winner Ferntree Gully our first game and regular winner Geelong in there too, also Warrnambool.

“And honestly, we thought we were in a really good position on Day 1 against Ferntree Gully when our bowlers had bowled really well, and we cleaned up their tail leaving them with 198 on a pitch where the par score was probably more like 240.”

Simon Kirton 4/49 and Joel Brann 3/27 secured the breakthroughs at the top of the Ferntree Gully batting and Ethan Lamers took 3/23 in the middle stages to further restrict the scoring.

“But we kept losing wickets at the wrong time ourselves and ultimately came up 42 runs short. It was the one we needed to win, and it was probably the one that got away,” he said.

It was tougher day on Tuesday against Geelong and a century by their opener Sam Hall, a player who has caused problems for Leongatha in the past, set them up for a big country week total of 8/294.

Leongatha’s innings was cut short after 22.1 overs when the storm front which hit Mirboo North later in the day went through.

“It was nothing like what you had down here, but the wind was quite strong and before we could get the covers on, the wicket did get some rain on it and we lost the match on Duckworth–Lewis rules,” said Gray.

“The Round Three match on Wednesday, February 14, was supposed to be at the Brighton Beach oval against Warrnambool but no one put the covers on overnight, and play was abandoned without a ball being bowled.”

The good thing about that though was that Leongatha finished in third place in Pool A and crossed over to play Wangaratta from Pool B on Thursday, a team that had performed well across three games without winning any of them, to decide who stayed in the Provincial division next year.

It was to be Leongatha’s best overall performance of the week and they lived to fight another year in the Provincial division.

Leongatha won the toss and sent Wangaratta in to bat, the thinking being that if they chased in the crucial last match, at least their destiny was in their own hands.

This time if was Phillip Island’s Shiran Rathnayake who came to the party in a big way, taking a match-winning 4/16 off his 10 overs, and with Joel Brann, Jake Cochrane, Tim Wightman and co chipping in, the LDCA kept the wickets coming and bowled Wangaratta all out for 182 in the last over at Croydon Park.

Mitchell Clark 44 off 109 balls anchored a solid start by Leongatha, especially in a 86-run second wicket partnership with Daniel Mock 29 who had performed well during the week.

The team lost their way in the middle stages but Jack Ginnane 27 and Tim Wightman 15 brought it home with a 9th wicket partnership of 37. Needing two off the last ball, Ginnane finished it with a flourish, cracking a six to win it.

Leongatha and District stay up in Provincial (Division One) next year with the chance to win the whole thing next year, not an unrealistic goal given Ferntree Gully played off in the final, ultimately won by perennial favourites Geelong (hardly a country association, it must be said).