Page 24 - WPHCC 2023-2024 Cricket Season Yearbook

The final chapter of this epic season.
Who would take home the trophy, who would take home the emblem of triumph and glory?
Strange things happen in final cricket. We arrived at Thornleigh oval, rearing for the final day of finals cricket. Thanks to the bloodied hands of the St Ives groundsmen, the pitch, which was an underwater aquarium, was now dried and declared playable. The game, though tipped in our favour, could turn at any time. St Ives were 6-36, trailing by 84 runs with 90 overs remaining. There was still work to be done. As was the archetype all season, we unleashed upon them an onslaught of fury, taking the final 4 wickets in 8 overs with only 6 runs conceded.
We induced the follow on and sent those boys back to face the big guns of our firing squad.
St Ives made their intentions clear, swinging from ball 1. As Daniel handed his hat back to the black and white, there was a murmur in the stands. Something was building. Danos pounded in with raw aggression, stumps flying in all directions. St Ives was drenched with sweat, as each batsman was sent in to face their fate by our Man of the match. Daniel took 6 wickets this innings, all bowled, to get his first fifer in his career and a total of 10 wickets in the Grannie, the first time in West Penno’s history.
St Ives struck back, with only 7 down, batting aggressively to swing momentum back to their side. Runs flowed with some big 4’s and 6’s to follow. There was a period of 12 overs, where we took no wickets and conceded 37 runs, to be trailing by 26 runs. We never lost heart and the chat in the field never died down.
Matt took a screamer of a catch to end the pair, diving outstretched after running 15 meters from cow corner. Congratulations to our very own Mr Ripp’n and Turn’n (Rob), who picked up his 250th career wicket, in a Grannie no less. Good job Rob on that milestone. Slumps (Nathan) and Rob finished them off with some good bowling for a chase-able total of 30 runs. Zac hung up the pads for the season, leaving the other troops to get the runs. Ray opened the batting and decided to play more defensively than usual, hitting two monstrous 6’s, one in the first over of the match.
There was another collapse, 4 down after the 5th over. We were fuelling the spinner’s 37 wicket total of the season. Tension and perspiration was building up in the West Penno camp. The opposition’s hopes were kindled, but it was our day today.
Dan and Matt scored the winning runs to the seal the match and our name onto the trophy.
I cannot write my feeling of winning the Grand Final. It was more than the result; it was the team that we did it with. We have supported each other all season, each person fighting hard all season, gritting our teeth to up at the appropriate times. We were greeted by the adulation of the crowd, chips and drinks at the Sporto and the trophy drinking tradition with all the gunk, beer, coke and coffee within. Thanks to the St Ives team for the match, you are a good bunch of guys that were born in the wrong zip code.
We also thank the other teams we versed in the season, the majority of you weren’t bad guys either. We thank the umpires as well who did a great job on their decisions and we are glad to give you an entertaining match to officiate. We thank both our Captains and vice-Captain for leading us onto victory with only 1 defeat all season. We give credit to our captain for all the behind the scenes work and on field parenting as well. We also acknowledge your good strategy, bowling advice and wickets which came as a result. You are 1 for 1.
We also thank the crowds that supported us in our Grannie win, you guys are the best and your support was great!
We thank Grace, Mama and Papa Digs and Ad’s Daddie, for their support all season, we are glad to give you guys the big W. I think it is appropriate to end with the words of our captain, captain diplomat (Warren) and our vice-skipper, vice-skipper Ferrari (Rob):