BERWICK’S turfone side will continue to defend last season’s premiership and hunt backtoback flags with a fighting semifinal win against North Dandenong over two days at the weekend
Played at Arch Brown Reserve the game between the two top sides ebbed and flowed with the home side the runaway winner.
North Dandenong struggled early on day one in perfect batting conditions with Simon Cornell taking the first three wickets, 3/44 the score.
North then rebounded to 108 before Alex Roberts, having his first genuine bowl of the season after being hampered by a side strain, got two wickets in two balls to put Berwick back in the box seat.
That started a batting collapse that saw North Dandenong lose its last seven wickets for 17 runs.
Roberts showed he was just as good with the ball as with the bat and Ash Henry produced some artistry with 3/23 off nine.
North was all out for 125 and Berwick was confident of knocking off the total by the end of the first day’s play and at 4/91 it seemed as though that’s what would happen.
However when Steve Carr fell for 27 and Dave Hampton for 18, Berwick gave its opponents a sniff and they relished their last gasp of hope.
Berwick lost its next three wickets in quick time with only Gavin Wills holding strong, notout in the 30s.
The Bears ended the day 8/117 with Jarrod Goodes also notout and Berwick’s hopes of defending last year’s premiership hanging by thread.
Day two produced further dramas when Wills was given out lbw with just two runs added to the total and a nervous Will Carr striding to the crease.
Goodes became the hero though when he smashed a cover drive for three and then Carr nudged a single to give Berwick the game and a rematch against Springvale South this week at Wachter Reserve.
Goodes finished on 57 notout in party time.
A GRADE
Berwick went into the finals clash full of confidence after a full homeandaway season undefeated.
However, batting let it down on day one as four toporder bats got vital starts before playing loose shots to get themselves out.
Only Wayne Margitich (48) managed to post a significant score, Sam Curtis, Brad James and Aidan Mills all falling in the 20s.
With the lower order unable to regain any lost ground, Berwick crashed to be all out for 141 20 overs of play still remaining.
Narre Warren crept to 1/8 at the end of the day, but Berwick came out breathing fire on early on day two.
Aidan Mills bowled an excellent first spell with two wickets and two dropped catches coming off his first eight overs, but the initial signs of chances gone missing were to hurt the Bears badly.
Michael Dalzotto set James up at short leg with a fullblooded pull shot ricocheting off James’s knee to Matt Olver behind the stumps to have the game hanging in the balance at 5/69.
Dalzotto struck again two overs later, thanks to a safe catch on the boundary from Sam Curtis who claimed the wicket of Narre captain Ben Charles to put Berwick back in the game at 7/106.
Dave Dalzotto bowled a fine spell and Jim Smith was powering through at the other end with two wickets of his own.
Dalzotto senior put victory within Berwick’s reach at 8/119 at the tea break, but again dropped catches were to snuff out its chances, with six going down in all.
Eventually Narre Warren swept to a surprise victory with two wicket in hand.
B GRADE
Having received a thumping at the hands of Lynbrook the previous week, Berwick was still out of its depth against this powerful team when they met again in the first final at the weekend.
Berwick received a batting lesson as Lynbrook plundered 373 on the first day, Leigh Otten holding his head high with 4/75 off 21 overs and Nick Shannon toiling hard early with 0/52 off 14 impressive overs in his first senior final.
The task was near insurmountable for the Bears as they were bundled out for 60, Damien Quinlan managing 20 of those.
C GRADE
It was an excellent team performance from Berwick that knocked up 308 on the first day, with Tim Renwick (83) and Matt O’Donoghue (72) the main contributors.
Dean Holden whacked 47 notout at the tail and Will Chapman and Wayne Viney both added 20 to the Bears’ score.
The Berwick bowlers were just two good in reply, the ageless Viney stealing the show with an amazing 27over spell netting him seven wickets for just 63 runs.
UNDER 17 (1)
The top junior side was outclassed by Cranbourne after posting 162 off its 45 overs.
It was passed just two wickets down, to bring a sad end to a promising year.
