Tara Murray
The hard work has paid off for Grand United as it was crowned Victorian Turf Cricket Association division 3 premiers.
Having fallen short in last season’s grand final series, the Gorillas have been determined to go one better this season.
They only needed one day of the grand final against Sunbury to get the job done, hitting the winning runs late on day one on Saturday.
President Alan Hale said it was a fantastic day for the club
“It was fantastic not just for the 11 guys that played, but the whole club,” he said.
“Everyone has their own stories and there’s so many good stories in that time. Whether it’s their first A-turf premiers or they’ve won multiple flags, everyone is stoked.”
Sunbury won the toss and decided to bat at JR Parsons Reserve.
The Roar was quickly in trouble at 2-5 before it steadied. The wickets continued to fall for the Roar from that point as the side was bowled out for just 120 in the 42nd over.
Hale said they just stuck to the plan they had taken into the game.
“We executed exceptionally well with the ball,” he said. “Sunbury have some really good bats in their line up, especially Kevin Barker, who played really well.
“We wanted to choke the opposition and didn’t give them any opportunities. Ben Doll and Sam Crea bowled well opening up and then the spinners come on.
“We got three run outs as well, that changed the game.”
Doll and Crea took three wickets each for the Gorillas.
With plenty of time left on day one, Hale said the group was keen to get the runs needed for first innings points and then see what happened.
“Like the week before we thought we could get the runs on the day,” he said.
“Jayden White-Powell started really well. We wanted to play positive cricket as we have and we learned some things from the last time we played them.
“We were scoring five runs an over for the first 15 overs, which didn’t allow Sunbury to make a run at it.”
The Gorillas were 4-149 off 35 overs at stumps. White-Powell had top scored with 47.
The Roar made the call to end the game at that stage instead of the two teams coming back for day two.
Hale said with a number of good batters still in the shed, the result was only going to go one way even if they played on.
White-Powell was named player of the match.
Hale said a lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes the last couple of years to get the club back to where it is.
The Gorillas will play in division 2 next season.
“We have plans to get higher than division 2, that is for sure,” he aid.
“We lost a lot of players a few years back and our mindset was to continually improve.
“We’ve done a lot of hard work and there’s a lot of good people to get us back to where we were yesterday. [Saturday].”
