THE number crunchers would have discarded their calculators if you’d told them on the eve of the Victorian Turf Cricket Association west B1 grand final that Seddon would finish day two odds-on favourites to beat minor premiers Altona Roosters at Donald McLean Reserve.
Seddon made almost 600 fewer runs than the Roosters over the course of the regular season, took 11 fewer wickets, won one less game and lost their only head-to-head meeting.
Yet it is Seddon in the box seat heading into the all-important third day with a resounding first innings lead of 94, a number likely to swell with century-making captain-coach Tim Grant still at the crease and a further two wickets in hand.
“It was an absolutely great two days,” Seddon secretary Rolf Tamburro said. “We’re in the position where we wanted to be. There’s still a long way to go and a lot of hard work ahead.”
The Roosters chose the most inopportune time to kick up a stinker with the bat, failing to cash in on pristine batting conditions with nerves getting the better of them.
They were all out for a snail-paced 100 in 76 overs with Brad Self (20), David Roach (19) and Aaron Grixti (16) the only meaningful contributors. Paul Grant put the clamps on the recognised run makers with 3-17 off 15 overs.
Thomas Matkovic, Tharindu Weerasinghe and Tom Kriebardis each took two wickets to underline the teamwork involved in bringing down the top-ranked batting side for such a minimal total.
Seddon flirted with the idea of walking down struggle street at a precarious 3-9.
That stirred Tim Grant to produce one of the great innings in his club’s history. He was still there at stumps on the second day on 106 not out after featuring in a innings-turning 63-run stand with Weerasinghe (21).
“It was a chanceless innings,” Tamburro said, “beautiful to watch.”
Leigh Lewis (4-42 off 27 overs), Darren Wainwright (2-35 off 14) and Chris Dine (1-49 off 16) have worked their backsides off with the ball for the Roosters to patch up the damage caused by the batsmen.
– Lance Jenkinson
