By Marcus Uhe
And with that, the Battle of the Creek – cricket edition – was born.
James Trodd’s cover drive on the fifth-last ball of Berwick’s run chase against Beaconsfield in the Dandenong District Cricket Association’s turf 1 competition had just enough juice to beat Mitchell Tielen to the boundary line, but celebrations were underway before the umpire could signal for four, having helped his new side escape by a solitary wicket in a must-win contest.
Trodd, an English seamer who delivered his best performance of his four games in Berwick navy blue thus far, would be as ill-equipped to make the assessment on the beginning of the Battle as anyone at Perc Allison Reserve on Saturday, but a strong showing of support from both sides glued to the unfolding drama in the middle would have given the import a sense of the significance the contest possessed.
Despite being neighbouring suburbs, the Tigers and Bears have seldom faced-off on the cricket field, having not competed in the same grade in First XI cricket until last summer.
With the maiden contest abandoned due to wet weather and the second a comprehensive Berwick victory at home, this was the first even battle between the two sides and one to remember for years to come.
“It might have been!” said an enthusiastic Jarrod Goodes when asked if this contest was the establishment of a rivalry.
“We haven’t played a lot of cricket against them for a long time, maybe back in the ‘60s or ‘70s.
“That was a pretty tight game and they’re definitely a force in Turf 1 now, so I imagine, knowing how the footy rivalry goes, it’s probably going to take off.”
The game itself was played at a patient and intriguing pace, with parallels to the 2019 World Cup Final in its tension and careful progression.
Sent in to bat under gloomy and cloudy skies at home, Beaconsfield battled to find its groove, squandering a position of promise to post 170 from its 45 overs.
After losing Tyler Clark early, the experienced pair of Andrey Fernando and Sasith Livera added 67 for the second wicket, before an inspired choice by Berwick to offer part-time finger spinner Michael Wallace a bowl reaped major rewards.
Wallace picked up both batters for 36 and 32 respectively in a tight six-over spell that yielded just 24 and vindicated his captain’s faith, a bold move given the selection of established spinner Elliot Mathews.
Beyond Fernando and Livera, runs were hard to come by, as the remaining seven wickets fell for just 71 runs.
Ashan Madhushanka added 25 and Susantha Pradeep made 17 but Trodd and Goodes made light work of the tail to dig their side out of trouble, having faced the prospect of a considerable chase with Beaconsfield reaching 3/130 after 35 overs.
Trodd finished with 5/41 and Goodes 3/43, having returned to the attack to bowl the death overs with tremendous affect.
The pair bowled tight, accurate lines and offered little for the Beaconsfield batters to attack, but a frustrating 22-run stand for the final wicket between Jake Cutting and Daniel Maskiell added a layer of difficulty to Berwick’s assignment.
Bears openers Matthew Hague and Jarryd Wills made a typically attacking and bold start to their run chase but lived dangerously, surviving a handful of dropped chances from Beaconsfield fielders.
Wills picked out Fernando beautifully on the square leg boundary during the second over but survived, while a pair of lofted straight drives from Hague just eluded Cutting at mid-off.
Wills was given a third chance when Joel Matthews grassed a chance off Cutting in the ninth over but failed to capitalise, edging to slip on his next delivery to depart for 20.
Jake Hancock’s stay was brief, chipping a simple catch to Cutting to depart for just one following treatment to his hamstring mid-innings, but Wallace’s arrival at the crease gave Hague a partner to build his innings with.
The pair picked gaps in the outfield, targeting straight boundaries both behind square and down the ground, and ran hard between the wickets to lessen the reliance on boundaries.
Hague reached his half-century in the 33rd over with a pair of lofted straight drives as the partnership looked sturdier and sturdier, and at 2/101 after 30 overs, Berwick appeared in complete control.
But with wickets at a premium when defending such a total, Pradeep expended Cutting’s allotment overs and was validated by his opening bowler grabbing the wickets of both Wallace and Jordan Cleland in his final over, edging his side back into the contest.
Mitchell Shirt could only add two, and when Hague was bowled around his legs by Daniel Maskiell for 64, at 6/149, Beaconsfield was roaring home.
Lachlan Brown departed without scoring too, leaving three wickets in hand with 19 runs required.
Toby Wills added 14 before he became Madhushanka’s third victim, and after looking likely to guide his side home, Goodes was the ninth wicket to fall in the penultimate over with three runs required.
Out of desperation for wickets earlier in the innings, Tigers captain Pradeep had used all the allowable overs for his four frontline bowlers, and turned to the medium pace of Fernando to deliver the final blow with his first deliveries of the match with the scores tied.
Trodd defended the first ball straight to cover but lofted the second to the boundary rope to secure his first win in Berwick colours.
Having thought he cost his side the game upon his late dismissal, Goodes was a relieved captain after the game.
“We weren’t great today, we weren’t perfect by any means but we found a way to win, which we haven’t been able to do in the first three games,” he said.
“We’ve been pretty competitive, we were just a fraction off and when you play the top two sides and you’re 10 per cent off, you get beaten, and then the Dandenong West boys were really good in the first game and we just fell 20 runs short.
“We probably played the worst game of the year today, which is not to take anything away from Beaconsfield, we just didn’t execute all that well – we lost wickets at crucial stages and we let some runs through the field.
“We actually bowled and fielded a lot better last week against Buckley, but we scrapped and found a way and were able to bowl them out when they were three down after 35 overs.”
With clear room for improvement, Goodes is hoping that the Bears can find their rhythm as the season enters the longer format portion of games.
Given the congested nature of the table, with only six points separating third from last, Berwick’s season is far from over, with Saturday offering a springboard into the remainder of the summer.
“We’re really keen on the two day games, it’s going to suit our batters and our bowlers to a tee,” Goodes said.
“Especially our spinners, where they can get into a groove and have the field where they want it and not be bowling with a white ball that’s cooked after a couple of overs, we’re better suited to it.
“We’ve got three two-day games before Christmas and if we can win two or three of those, we’re right back in the hunt.”
Beaconsfield will rue a lamentable performance in the field, where a number of dropped chances were detrimental to its cause, having frittered away a golden opportunity to bank some breathing room in the top four.
Instead, they join three two other sides in the finals hunt at 2-2, and breathe life into the season of a likely top-four contender.
Cutting and Madhushanka finished with three wickets each.
