Lakers claim A grade premiership, Hawks stumble at final obstacle

Rovers United Bruck would be wanting that one over again. The Hawks lost the WDCA A grade grand final on Saturday at Benalla Gardens Oval, with Yarrawonga Mulwala reaching the target of 159 with four wickers and 17 balls remaining. Batting first, Rovers United Bruck simply lost too many wickets at inopportune times, rolled for 158 in the 40th over. After winning the toss and batting first, the Hawks’ innings got off to a shocker courtesy of a stunning catch from Reid Clarke down leg side, pouching the ball glancing off Charith Perera’s bat as he tried to flick it down to fine leg. After Ryan Collier popped one up the chimney trying to force the game forward, the Hawks were in trouble at 2/20 in the sixth over, and needed Jacob Schonafinger and Reid McNamara to steady the ship. The Hawks looked to be stabilising until Devlin Webb fired a quicker one right through Schonafinger’s defences to rattle the stumps. A full toss on the stumps would account for Matt Whitten, dismissed LBW by Ben Welsh for just six, while Dean Shaw was caught behind for a duck after the ball found the shoulder of the bat and popped up. The Hawks were 5/96 at drinks, McNamara was flying and closing in on his half century, but found a faint edge into the waiting gloves of Clarke off the third ball after drinks, out for 42. A brilliant partnership was forged between skipper Jeremy Wilson and Michael Honman, breathing some life back into the innings and it would take an outstanding piece of fielding to remove Wilson, with Harrison Wheeler diving full stretch to his left from square leg to reel in a classic catch. Zac Fraser (3/26 off 8.4) wrapped up the tail, and was imposing with ball in hand alongside Devlin Webb (3/26 off nine). RUB skipper Jeremy Wilson said they left more than a few runs out in the middle. “At the end of the day, we just didn’t bat our overs, and it cost us in the end,” he said. “If we bat for another four, five overs and make another 25 runs, you’d get 180, and I’ve said all year, if you get 180 you don’t lose too many. “From a batting point of view, it was typical of our season, really. “We just didn’t have anyone who went on and got a half century – I think every time someone has made a half century this year, we’ve won. “It would’ve been nice for one of us to go on and get a 60 or 70, but credit to Yarra, they bowled pretty well, it was tough to get away at times, but that’s what a grand final is.” The Hawks needed their bowlers to produce their best spells for the season if RUB were to get over the line, and it looked promising early. Blake Nixon slid one through the gate to clean bowl Fraser Smart in his first over, while Jacob Schonafinger found the edge of Ben Welsh’s bat to start the rot. Reid Clarke (18 off 54), Devlin Webb (15 off 18) and Harrison Wheeler (17 off 31) would all get starts before they’d be removed, and the Hawks looked to be in a promising position. However, the match would be put to bed by the partnership of William Wheeler (51* off 62) and Zac Fraser (40* off 61). The pair batted time, put the bad balls away, and ultimately delivered the premiership to the Lakers. “That’s the tough pill to swallow – you’ve got a team on the ropes at 6/80 and you can’t close it out, it hurts,” Wilson said. “Willie and Zac are class players, you’ve only got to go back to the T20 grand final to see what Zac did, I think he got 80* in that grand final, he’s had some good grand finals this year. “We tried everything, we were probably a bowler short, we lost a couple of players through the year which didn’t help but that doesn’t really matter now.”

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