By Tara Murray
Altona North made it two premierships in the space of a couple of months after holding its nerve in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association Isaacs Howarth Shield grand final on Saturday.
Having beaten the top three senior division teams on the way to the T20 title, Altona North had its focus on the division 1 title as well.
In control after day one of the grand final with Sunshine, Altona North had a few nervous moments on Saturday before steadying to come away with the win and trophy.
Altona North chairman of selectors Ian Denny said it was pretty special.
“It was pretty good,” he said. “There are always nerves come grand final time and we didn’t start off well.
“They put on 30 or 40 for the first wicket [on day two]. We dropped a couple of catches and could have dropped our heads.”
Altona North had made 9-177 on day one of the match before having the Crows in trouble at 5-45 at stumps.
Denny said after the slow start on day two, which had been postponed due to rain, they had a few bowling changes and changed their tactics as well.
“Their number six and seven batsmen are really good players,” he said. “They looked to play their shots.
“We then looked to try and strangle them as we were giving them opportunities to score.
“We were able to strangle them and got them out that way. “
The Crows managed to get to 5-90 to give their side some hope. The wickets started to fall and continued to fall as they were bowled out for 126.
Jinang Shah and Nathan Patrick took four wickets each for Altona North.
Man of the match was Joe Harrison for his 63 after coming in at number eight on day one.
Denny said Harrison was the player he thought changed the match.
“He dragged us out of trouble,” he said. “We were 6-90 and he was enormous.
“There were just over 300 runs scored and he scored 60. Our bowlers Jinang and Nathan bowled well too.”
Denny said one of the biggest things that impressed him was the way the group came together in the lead up to the grand final.
Thomas Taylor had to head back to England in the lead up to the grand final.
“They stuck together,” he said. “It drove them to be closer together as a team, losing the best player in the competition.”
While the celebrations will last for a while, Altona North will soon have to start thinking about playing in the top flight next season.
Denny said a lot of work had been done to get them into this position.
“We set up this plan when I joined three years ago,” he said.
“We’ve got a good group, a pretty stable group. We will have to pick up a couple of players.
“Clubs like Yarraville Club and Deer Park have some quality players [who we will face].”
