CRICKET
CLV PREMIER A
By LIAM DURKIN
THE Globo Gym Purple Dragon Cobras might have had Blade, Laser, Blazer and all kinds of azers.
The Churchill Cobras however have JK, Kearnsy, Gurt and a bloke called Ayresy.
He had a fair finals series.
The Cobras also have some of the finest role players a team could ever hope for in Tugga, Covers, Willow and Ric.
This combination of star power and seasoned honestly saw Churchill to the Cricket Latrobe Valley Cricket Premier A premiership at the weekend.
The Cobras did it the hard way, coming from fourth to defeat Morwell on the Tigers’ home deck.
Bowling first at Keegan Street, the visitors took advantage of grey skies and a moist surface to rock and roll Morwell for 113.
Day 1 was delayed by up to two hours to allow conditions to settle, and Churchill had little hesitation sending Morwell in.
Tigers veteran Mark Cukier top-scored with 52 off 106 balls opening the batting, while left hander Blake Mills contributed 25.
The ball however was reportedly darting in all directions, making life extremely challenging for those on strike.
The scorecard said as much, with extras forming part of a trio that were the only ones to reach double figures.
Five ducks and four other single figure scores led to the Tigers lasting 56 overs out in the middle.
Seam was a clear go-to on the wicket. Churchill only used three overs of off spin from John Keighran, while Ryan Ayres and Chris Williams took nine wickets between them.
Steve Warr took the decisive wicket of Cukier, which saw Morwell go from 4/75 to 8/100.
Ayres nabbed arguably the biggest wicket in the Tigers’ line up, getting Tim Ford for a second baller.
Churchill had ample time to bat before stumps, and knocked 53 runs off the total by the close of play.
More importantly, the Cobras still had eight wickets in the shed.
Churchill got through a tricky 19 overs period, navigating bad light as the game went well past 6pm.
Warr reportedly struggled to pick up the ball, trying to get through as many overs as he could.
An early start was called on Sunday, where the equation for both teams was rather simple.
For the Cobras, they just needed 53 runs to win on first innings, which meant they could then simply take even more time out of the game.
The Tigers meanwhile needed quick wickets.
Morwell struck a couple of blows, including Jordan Higham for 40, and Ben Kearns some time later to leave the scoreboard reading 5/85.
Keighran however brought all his experience to the table, getting his side to parity.
He was dismissed when scores were level, yet a few extra runs from Kurt Holt pushed the total toward 130.
While Churchill had now won on first innings, there was still so much time left in the game for Morwell to try and set up a reverse outright.
Ever optimistic, and as only mothers can do, Simone Clymo, mum of Morwell captain Blair, believed the side would still win reverse outright.
Her hopes and those of players wearing yellow and black soon faded however, as Ayres found a willing ally for the second week in a row.
Having denied Ex Students the week before in similar fashion, left hander Matt Harvey strode to the crease with just one thing on his mind – crease occupation.
He ended up batting with Ayres for 30 overs, forcing the game to a stage where the Tigers felt there was no chance of any other result.
Harvey, to his credit, has shelved his usually attacking nature for the betterment of the team this finals series, holding up an end once first innings has been achieved.
You’d never believed he played baseball.
He remained not out across two finals series, facing a total of 188 balls for 15 runs.
That was the job required at the time however.
The pair did not look like getting out, but by the same token, were taking absolutely no risks whatsoever.
On one occasion, Ayres padded a full toss back to the bowler, and safely played a half tracker into the ring.
He farmed the strike to such an extent he didn’t take singles after hitting the ball to deep fine leg, much to the bemusement of Harvey’s old man, Graham ‘Grub’ Harvey watching on from the side lines.
While the lead only hovered around 40 runs for what seemed an eternity, the biggest issue Morwell had was giving themselves enough time to take 13 wickets.
Armchair plans were for Morwell to treat it like a twenty20 if they ever did bowl the Cobras out.
A lead of 100 or even 80 could have set up a Hail Mary declaration, but the Cobras had other ideas.
Churchill players were whited up on the side lines before tea, readying for the team photo.
There was general consensus the game would be called at tea, yet Morwell decided to play on.
‘Another 10 overs’ was the cry from most in attendance, but with Ayres unbeaten on 56 after playing a textbook straight drive, and Harvey blocking every ball of the 71st over, the game eventually came to an end just before 2pm.
Subdued celebrations took place, most likely a reflection of the fact Churchill knew victory was in sight with every passing over.
Ayres addressed the group as captain out on the ground, before Holt made sure to make mention of the skippers’ effort in virtually delivering the premiership off his own bat.
Ayres put together what is surely one of the most incredible individual finals efforts on record, scoring 93 not out in the semi-final and 56 red in the decider, to go with five-fas in both finals as well.
As they say, you don’t mind recruiting Poms when they put up numbers like that.
Ayres was an obvious choice for man of the match, and made sure to recognise “the most important person on the team” in scorer Deb Brighton.
“Just to make finals was a massive achievement for us, and then to go to Students on their home turf and knock them off in one-and-a-half days, to come here, good toss to win if I’m going to be honest, but we knew what it was all about, bit of pressure but the boys have done well,” he told the Express postgame.
“I said if we bat deep, the runs will come. Just bat time. If we bat 40 overs, we’ll score 50 runs, get in front of them, and you deflate them.
“I thought they’d go at lunch, I was thinking 53 overs left in the day, we’re 50 clear, but fair play to them, you’ve gotta have a crack.
“If they got me out after tea it’s probably game on, they’d try and smack a few and get us back in.”
Injured player and favourite son Ryan Harvey, who is now club president, was also deservedly recognised as part of the effort.
Chris Williams, at the grand old age of 41, won his first A Grade premiership, and was one of many important role players.
The right arm pace bowler reportedly started swinging the ball prodigiously this season, getting balls from well outside off stump to go over the top of middle.
In previous years, playing in the lower grades, the same deliveries were hacked into the leg side, but playing against players with actual techniques meant he suddenly became a lethal weapon.
Ric Velardi was another solid role player, who like Warr, found a job occupying the crease to allow Ayres and Keighran to flourish down the order.
Keighran, one of Churchill’s greatest players who has been battling injury in recent years, may have thought another premiership would elude him, yet he was able to add a further medal to the collection.
Kurt Holt was brought into the team during the last few weeks of the season as a strike bowler, changing the complexity of the squad.
He has now won multiple flags playing for Churchill in the two main sporting codes, and was on hand with a bottle of unopened champagne to kick celebrations into gear.
Youngsters Brae Kelly and Archie Norman have both paid their penance in the lower grades in recent years, and should be players for the future.
The win completed a remarkable feat for the Cobras, who were relegated from Premier A only two seasons ago.
From that moment, Churchill maintained its desire to get back into the top grade, although even those closest to the camp probably didn’t think a premiership would be on the cards this quickly.
Churchill didn’t even make the A Grade Grand Final last season, and had to win two of its last three games of the regular season last month just to qualify.
The Cobras snuck into fourth after a few results went its way.
A sublime innings from Ben Kearns got Churchill the win chasing 250 against Moe, while Cobra officials admitted the reverting of the last round from a two dayer to a one dayer against Morwell certainly helped.
The Cobras were pumped by Ex Students in Round 13, but turned the tables completely in the semi-final, after getting a ball that reportedly hooped around corners.
Come the Grand Final, they won the toss and cashed in when conditions were conducive to swing and seam.
Had Morwell bowled first on that pitch with Ford and Brendan Brincat, there is every chance they would have bowled Churchill out for a similar score.
The luck of a draw in a final.
Sometimes things just fall into place.
The premiership team was;
Ryan Ayres (captain), Matt ‘Covers’ Harvey, Jordan Higham, Kurt ‘Gurt’ Holt, Ben Kearns, John ‘JK’ Keighran, Brae Kelly, Archie Norman, Ric Velardi, Stephen ‘Tugga’ Warr, Chris ‘Willow’ Williams, Jacob Dunn, -Deb Brighton (scorer), Ryan Harvey (president).
