Second XI takes out back to back flags

The Seconds completed another fine season on Saturday by taking out another flag in a tough contest with North Ringwood at Barngeong Reserve on a perfect autumn day.

The top two sides faced off in the grand final with North Ringwood winning the toss and electing to bowl having had recent success against our boys. To their credit, the North Ringwood bowlers backed in the decision to bowl and made batting difficult from ball one with great lines and lengths. A couple of early wickets and a slow scoring rate saw the Bulls clearly on top at 2/16 after 11 overs.

The old firm of Craig Noske and Andy MacCartney came together and showed great patience in getting things back on track. Scoring remained tough but no further loss saw us go to drinks at 2/44 from 18 overs.

The boys looked to up the rate in the back half of the innings before Andy was dismissed for a terrific 33 (80) and Craig fell for 27 (36) to see us 4/77 from 25 overs. Steve came to the crease and looked to get on with things, managing to find the boundary and turn the strike over. As we chased quick runs, the wickets fell but the boys all showed good intent with Steve getting 25 from just 21 balls, while Nick 10 (11) and Damo 8 (9) scored to valuable runs to see us finish with a competitive 8/128 from 35 overs.

North Ringwood went into bat and got off to a positive start despite an early wicket to Damo. A key second wicket partnership showed signs of getting on top at 1/36 from 12 before the bowlers locked things down and built the necessary pressure. Patty grabbed a key wicket to see them 2/44.

From there the game became a real arm wrestle with a confident shot or two then cancelled out by plenty of dot balls. A couple of quick wickets saw the Bulls 4/63 after 22 needing 5 an over to get the job done. The next few overs saw the bats move forward confidently before the introduction of Nicko who grabbed a couple of wickets to put us right on top at 6/89.

With batting all the way down the boys stayed focused and were clinical over the last phase of the game as Joel Mac came back to finish the game off. Each wicket was celebrated with some vigorous Patty Slaps as the boys went in for the kill. The final wicket came with a catch to Benny Noske who was standing in no-mans land as Joel cunningly slid a pie down leg side. In the end North Ringwood all out for 105 with Joel Mac finishing with the Player of the Match honours for his 3/9.

Once again a close and tense final for the boys, who found a way to come out on top for a 3rd flag in 4 years.

Go Lions !