With a small total of 125 to defend, the order of the day for Yarraville was to claim early scalps to further erode a Williamstown line-up that had lost three wickets for scraps late on day one of the sub-district cricket north-west group local derby at the Williamstown Cricket Ground on Saturday.
Never in the wildest dreams of Eagles captain Matthew Love did he think early wickets meant six for the concession of just 20 runs and seeing the Seagulls sitting on an embarrassingly low 9-25 and still 100 short.
The Seagulls squeezed out a 37-run last wicket partnership between Brenton Hodges (28) and Mitch Ferrie (9no) to add a modicum of respectability to the scorecard.
But the chase asked too much for the last two and their club’s finals dreams are almost certainly in tatters after being bowled out for a mediocre 62.
The Eagles, on the other hand, got to celebrate a memorable, against-the-odds win over a rival and cement a rare spot in the finals.
“We were hoping to get another couple of early wickets but we got through the middle order and the early couple of wickets turned into nine down,” Love said.
“We were on top of the world.”
Yarraville’s new-ball operators, James Keenan and Alex Hewet, did all the damage by snaring five wickets apiece.
Keenan added to his three overnight wickets to finish with 5-28 off 12 overs.
Hewet cleaned up the middle-to-lower order by taking 5-25 off 14.4.
“The wicket had a little bit in it, a bit of sideways movement, but you’ve still got to be able to put it in the right areas, which the two opening bowlers did,” Love said.
“I’m really confident with the opening partnership with the ball. We’re confident of getting early wickets.”
Yarraville has its finals berth under lock and key and go into the last-round one-dayer against Kew at the Yarraville Oval with a shot of hosting a qualifying final.
The Eagles get home-ground advantage in week one of the finals if they win and one of the top three lose.
“That’s obviously another incentive for us,” Love said.
“To be able to get a home final would be fantastic as you can have all the supporters there watching.
“It was great to see a few of the players who have been around the club for a long time getting down to the rooms and shaking our hands.
“Seeing the look on their faces, knowing we’re in the finals, was brilliant.”
Meanwhile, Altona secured its position in the finals with a resounding win over bottom-of-the-ladder Sunshine.
