Kingsville has kept its slight Victorian Turf Cricket Association Roy Picone Shield finals hopes alive.
After a tough few seasons, Kingsville has kept its finals hopes alive heading into the final round this Saturday.
Kingsville sits in fifth spot a game and percentage outside the top four. Gellibrand, which sits in fourth, faces top side Caroline Springs in the final round.
Kingsville coach Nawab Khwaja said they had done a lot of hard work over the last few years to get to this position.
“We have a lot of young kids, who don’t know how to play turf or two-day cricket,” he said. “The boys have done really well.
“They have made it hard for me to just sit back and watch. It’s very exciting.”
Khwaja, who has been at the club for 20 years, said at the start of the season they would love to have three sides play in finals and they have three sides in finals contention.
He said this season there hadn’t been much between all the sides in the competition and they had to be at their best each game.
He said that there were a number of surprising results each week.
On Saturday, Kingsville won a thriller against Keilor Park.
Kingsville made 9-158 from its overs.
Khwaja said they thought the score was below par.
“It was a lot short,” he said. “In the last 10 overs we made 24.
“It was a 180-200 wicket. It wasn’t as many on the board as we would have liked to give ourselves.”
Khwaja top scored with 43 as he came in at number nine, while Haroon Sikander made 19 not out at 10.
Kingsville wasn’t as clean in the field as it wanted to be with the match coming down to the final over.
Khwaja was thrown a curveball.
“I was going to our main man and he said I have a side strain and I can’t do it,” he said. “I put in our opening bowler [Haroon Sikandar].
“He made runs earlier in the day but had been down on form.
“He did what he needed to do and hopefully he can take the confidence into the next few weeks.”
Keilor Park finished 9-151.
Khwaja took three wickets for Kingsville.
The captain-coach said they hadn’t won a game like that before, it was a learning experience.
Kingsville faces Point Cook Centrals in the final round in a one-dayer.
“We should have beaten them the first time,” Khwaja said. “The boys know what is on the line.
“Hopefully we can win and the other result falls our way and hopefully we can make finals and then anything can happen.”
In other matches, Gellibrand beat Moonee Valley in a one-dayer.
