The all-important ninth round was supposed to provide a definitive edge in the race for the Victorian Turf Cricket Association north A1 minor premiership.
Taylors Lakes and Altona Roosters, the top two sides in the competition and separated by just one premiership point, were locked in an absorbing battle at Lionheart Reserve on the second day of the match on Saturday.
The game was heading for a close finish, with the Roosters unsteady at 6-56 in response to the Lakers’ modest 142, before it all came to a screeching halt.
The match was suddenly abandoned and will now be played out at the VTCA tribunal.
The official result on the VTCA website, pending a tribunal hearing, awarded the victory to the Lakers on forfeit.
But there’s more to be played out in the coming days.
Roosters playing president Darren Wainwright was tight-lipped about what transpired in the top-of-the-table clash, but confirmed his club would protest.
“No comment about the game,” he said. “We’ll be putting in a protest about the state of the ground and I’d prefer to leave it at that”.
Wainwright was talking from a local hospital, where one of his players was getting treatment after being hit in the head by a bouncer from a Lakers bowler.
Lakers coach Adam Brodie said the pitch conditions were the same for both sides across the two Saturdays.
He said the ball that hit the Roosters batsman was not malicious and simply a case of misjudgment by the batsman.
“It was a short ball and he missed it,” Brodie said. “He tried to hook, he wasn’t wearing a helmet, he missed and it hit him in the face.”
Amid the Roosters’ concerns over the state of the pitch, Brodie offered for the Lakers to use slow bowlers for the rest of the game, which, he says, was initially agreed on.
“We were at a stage where we were going to bowl slow bowlers, same as the bad light rule type of thing,” he said.
“Both captains agreed to that and then the president of Altona Roosters came onto the ground and pulled his team off.”
Asked if he would have been content for his players to bat on the Lionheart pitch, Brodie said: “Yes. I was the same last week”.
Brodie confirmed his side would fight to have the result preserved in his team’s favour.
It will be a crucial decision at the tribunal as it will have implications on both clubs’ ladder positions ahead of the finals.
“We were basically playing for a home final,” Brodie said.
“That’s why we’ve protested the result and the VTCA will have some sort of hearing and we’ll get to state our case.”
