Almanac (Local) Cricket – Round 11: West Warrion v Birregurra

 

MATCH WINNERS: Craig Kerr and Jamie Beale after hitting the winning runs.

 

A wily left-arm spinner, flurries of quick wickets, and a beautiful Warrion surface summed up our match against Birregurra.

 

Upon arrival at the ground for my pitch inspection, I was met with two elder statesmen of cricket across the region in Craig Jarvis and Dean Mahoney. The two are legends of cricket in the region — ‘Jarv’, a former opening batsman for Colac West, winning several top-grade premierships. He bats as steady and rock solid as they come. Dean is a left-arm orthodox spinner with great variations, subtle changes of pace, and an elite cricketing brain.

 

The pair have played together for more than 50 years, first playing with each other at Beeac. More recently, the two donned Victorian colours in over 60s cricket. Their achievements in cricket and ability speak for themselves, but what makes Jarv and Deano special is that they symbolise everything cricket is about in the way they play the game. Always a smile on their face, enjoying every moment cricket throws at them (even the bad ones), and never too serious. They are two of the great blokes.

 

Birregurra was without their gun bat Jack Mackie (418 runs at 83.6) because he was filling in for their Division 1 side, but they were sitting on the same number of wins as us heading into the match with a 6–2 record. We knew they weren’t to be taken lightly, and it was going to be a test for us as we head into finals.

 

Our opening bowler, Ethan Coverdale, struck in the first over, snicking off Zain Hawkins-Bartlett. My first over was pretty tidy, bowling to left-hander Drew Callahan and No. 3 batsman Jules Callahan. I shifted to a 7–2 off-side field for Jules Callahan with a short catching cover, two slips, and a deepish extra cover. The only fielders on the leg side were a forward square leg and a wide-on.

 

Seeing the field, Jules was trying to shuffle across his stumps to work me onto the leg side. I thought it would potentially set up an LBW chance if I could fire one in, but it would also be risky given the field I had set. Covers took a juggling caught-and-bowled effort to remove the second opener in Drew Callahan, seeing the score at 2–18. In Covers’ fourth over, he trapped Jules Callahan LBW for 11. With Birregurra at 3–25, it brought Craig Jarvis and his son Will to the crease. Will was filling in for Jack Mackie as captain.

 

Bowling to Will in the eighth over, I recorded a maiden. Xavier Prime then came on and bowled a maiden straight up to Craig. I then bowled another maiden to Will to record 18 dot balls in a row. Bowling wide of off stump, I was trying to be as full as possible, with a touch of movement away from the right-handed duo.

 

In the eleventh over, Jarv chipped one to Darcy Dwyer at the deepish cover I had set. It just gripped in the surface and didn’t quite come onto the bat like Craig thought it would. Darcy dropped it.

 

Jarv scurried through for a run, and I joked with him and our captain Liistro that I set him up and ran my fingers down the seam.

 

“Bullsh*t,” Jarv responded.

 

The next over, Will Jarvis chipped one to mid-off.

 

Darcy Dwyer came on to bowl, replacing Primey as we looked to get him to switch ends.

 

In my final over, Brad Murnane was run out by Charlie Morrissy. I don’t think he picked Charlie as a left-armer,  he hit it straight to his left hand at backward point and took off. Jarv knew and sent him back. The run-out left Birregurra at 5–46 after 16 overs.

 

Getting my baggy hat back from umpire Nick de Leeuw, Jarv said, “Well bowled, Pills.” From batsmen with as much experience and of the calibre Jarv is, that’s as good a compliment as you could get.

 

Liistro brought himself on to bowl just to chew through some overs while Jarv and Hamish Darroch tried to survive until drinks. He bowled two full bungas to Hamish, which each went to the boundary. After 20 overs, Birregurra were 5–58. A very commanding position for us to be in, but with Jarv anchoring the innings, anything was possible.

 

Primey came back on to get the snick off Hamish Darroch. Covers then snicked youngster Isaac Leeson off, with Damo Wetemans claiming the catch at second slip. Primey picked up the key wicket of Jarv with a big inswinging yorker, then finished the innings two overs later, picking up Aidan Mahoney and then Deano with the next ball. Jarv top-scored with 23 runs. Birregurra staggered to 78 all out in the 29th over.

 

The chase got off to an absolute flier with Damo opening up alongside Dave Bennett. After six overs, West Warrion was halfway to the total at 0–49. The highlight being a low, flat six Damo hit over midwicket off the bowling of Hamish Darroch.

 

Hamish is a gun junior footballer and, provided no injuries, should be a regular feature for the Geelong Falcons this season. Sensing the game slipping away, Birregurra opted for a change of pace, bringing on Deano from one end and Jarv from the other.

 

Deano struck second ball, bowling Damo. He then trapped James McNabb two balls later, taking 2–1 from his first over. Deano then bowled Charlie Morrissy, and we had slipped to 3–53. Dave Bennett was next to depart, making 17, hitting a catch to Zain Hawkins-Bartlett off the bowling of Jarv.

 

I was then out to bat with the score at 4–59. Twenty-one runs to get after losing 4–10. I met Jamie Beale at the crease to try and steady the ship and get us home.

 

Tentative and shaky is how I would describe my innings. After repeatedly trying to play Deano off the back foot to full, well-flighted deliveries and nearly getting bowled several times, Jarv walked up to me at the end of an over and said with a big grin on his face, “I have a podcast idea for you Pills, how to play spin bowling.”

 

I played a nice cut for two, then a drive that went past mid-off for two, and I sort of felt like I was getting in. Of course, Deano had one with my name on it though. I went back to one that was flighted a bit more and was trapped LBW. The score was 5–70, 10 more runs to get.

 

Only a catastrophe would have seen us lose, but I was frustrated that I wasn’t able to be out there to finish the game. Craig Kerr and Jamie Beale saw us home for a five-wicket win. A crucial win creating a bit of distance on the ladder, keeping us in second spot behind Colac.

 

Deano finished with 4–11 from 6.3 overs (economy rate 1.69), Primey 4–16 from 7.5, and Covers 4–27.

 

Fifteen wickets fell in three hours of cricket in every which way possible on a deck that was actually a beautiful batting surface. The game was all wrapped up by 3:30 pm, so we went to the Ti Tree Hotel in Warrion to enjoy a couple of beers.

 

Xavier Prime and Paul Liistro

 

 

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