It brings us great pleasure to announce the club will be adding it's 22nd flag to the wall, after our mighty 3rd XI triumphed in one of the greatest Burners grand finals ever!
The game was billed as the biggest game in the history of Kevin Bartlett Reserve, and it delivered!
If you were at the game, you could be forgiven for thinking you were at one of our A Grade Grand Finals of the late 2000's. The crowd was huge and the atmosphere electric, as hundreds turned out to see the City of Yarra's two greatest cricket clubs do battle.
On a perfect autumn day, Skipper Jeremy King lost the toss and Richmond City made the big call to put us in. We thought that if we were to have a chance at winning this game, then 210 would be a par score on the Fletcher.
After a slow couple of overs, we lost an early wicket, with Roland Fuhrmann falling for 2. Matt Wesley came to the crease and along with Marcus King, steadily got us back on track.
Following a game high 58 run partnership, Wes was run out at the non striker's end in freak circumstances, after a straight drive from Marcus collected the bowlers finger on the way through and ricocheted onto the stumps. The celebration from Richmond City told the story, as they knew Wes had been dismissed just once all season. They had the big wicket and we were on the back foot.
Marcus fell shortly after and at 3/85 the match was in City's favour.
Andrew Mariadason and Jeremy tried to stem the tide, with both batsmen getting on the counter attack before Andrew fell for 10.
Andrew's brother Anthony then came to the crease but was dismissed early for 5. A caught behind appeal that was turned down by the central umpire but later reversed by the square leg umpire saw David Leydon also fell cheaply, in typical controversial Leydon circumstances.
Vinay Bandaru fell shortly after and we were now 7/143 and reeling. With just 6 overs to go, our minimum required score of 210 was not going to be a realistic goal, we just needed to find a way to put some sort of score on the board.
Skipper Jeremy King fought valiantly, before he was dismissed just shy of his half century for 48. We got a great cameo from club immortal Bill Wagg, who made a very handy 21 near the end of the innings.
In the end we finished with 184, nowhere near what we wanted, but it was a score nonetheless. We now had something on the board, we just needed a good start to get us in the game.
What followed in the first over after the tea break will go down in Burnley folklore.
Matt Wesley took the new ball. On the second ball of the over, 64 year old Bill Wagg pulled in one of the best catches you will ever see in park cricket, diving low and taking the sharpest of chances at gully! This dismissed the opposition skipper and was a real team lifter!
Two balls later Wes wrapped City's number 3 on the pads and the finger went up! 2/0 and we were up and about! What a start!
Teenager Luke Mariadason then took 3 wickets in quick succession to skittle the rest of City's top order. We had them on the ropes at 5/36 and within the space of 8 overs, we started to catch a whiff of premiership success. As we all know though, things happen quickly on the Fletcher. A couple of big overs and Richmond City could be right back in it.
City added another 33 runs for their next partnership before 14 year old Ollie Mariadason claimed his 20th wicket of the season, thanks to a great catch from his uncle Andrew.
The next wicket to fall was comical, yet iconic. A miss field from Ollie on the straight boundary lead to a mix up between the City batsmen, the ball was thrown back in to Bill, who kept his cool and managed to hit the stumps.
Richmond City were now 7/84 and seemingly on their last legs. To their absolute credit, their tail fought very hard and actually managed to keep themselves in the game. Bill would eventually take the 8th wicket with the score at 8/120. City now needed 55 to win in 10 overs. We were in control, but one bad over could still really cost us.
City's number 9 and 10 batsmen really took it up to our boys, and every run they added to the score built the tension on the sidelines.
Vinay (who had bowled beautifully all day) finally claimed the much needed 9th wicket to take the score to 9/155. City now needed 29 runs to win in 3 overs.
In the crowd, you could cut the tension with a knife. 29 runs sounds like a lot, but this has actually been achieved on the Fletcher in just one over on multiple occasions. Jeremy threw the ball to young Ollie Mariadason to bowl the 33rd over, with the idea of having Vinay and Wes bring it home. Ollie showed maturity beyond his years, and bowled tightly enough to concede just 5 runs off the over, which was a massive win for us.
Vinay followed up with a fantastic 34th over, conceding just 6 runs.
It had now come down to the final over of the day with City needing 13 runs to tie and 14 to win. A tie would win them the flag as they had finished top of the ladder.
Our best bowler, Matt Wesley, was given the duty of bringing us home.
Despite shouldering a huge amount of pressure, Wes bowled sensationally and City were only able to score another 5 runs. With the 35th over completed, we had held on by 9 runs in one the best Burners grand finals ever. That was it, we were premiers!
It was such a great result for thirds. The synthetic XI (3rds or 4th or 5th XI's a few years ago) struggles have been well documented over the years. Up until last season this side were the battlers, and even in the odd year where things appeared to be going well, it would eventually fall apart after the Christmas break when the better players would be lost to the higher grades. Many of the players there on Saturday have been through those hard times and have now come out the other end with a premiership medal.
There were a lot of other stories within the main story on the day.
Our club is truly the family club, and as we've done before, it was a flag for fathers and sons. Like the Leydons, Glens, Passantes and their cousin and uncle before them, Luke and Ollie Mariadason were able to play in a premiership with their dad and uncle Andrew to make memories that will last a lifetime.
64 year old Bill Wagg made his long awaited return to the club this season, and really turned it on when it counted. Bill was the star of the semi final and also had some massive moments in the grand final. To go from retiring in the 90's as the club's greatest batsman, to coming back as a bowling all rounder to play alongside fellow club veterans David Leydon and Roland Fuhrmann in the 3rd XI premiership was truly special.
Young Marcus King played a pivotal role in the 3rd XI this season and batted very well once again on the day. Marcus has had a debut season to remember and will have the opportunity to make many more great memories at our club in the years to come.
Vinay Bandaru found himself going between the 2's and 3's in the second half of the year, before settling in the latter to give them us that much needed strike bowler the side has been craving for years. Vinay is now a two time premiership player and is building a great career at Burnley.
Matt Wesley was a dominant force this season in the 3rds. Dismissed just twice throughout the season, he finished with 356 runs at the ridiculous average of 178. He was the go to man in the 3's this season and we'd like to see Wes play many more games in the yellow and black. Half the crowd on Saturday were there to see him, so if he can bring them every week the club can make some big money over the bar!
The 12th man Amol Chaudhari played a huge role on the day. Spending the vast majority of the game on the ground to cover an injured D. Leydon, he stopped balls at vital times and never gave an inch. In a game where we held on by just 9 runs, Amol's influence on the game should never be understated.
Finally, we come to the captain, Jeremy King. Jeremy has lead this side for the last 6 seasons. He has done an exceptional job through that period and is an outstanding leader. Jeremy's personal performance on the day was huge, top scoring with 48 and winning the player of the match. The club would like to thank Jeremy for all his hard work over the last 6 years and congratulate him on an excellent season. He's also the reason we have Wes at the club, so we think that just speaks for itself.
So there we have it. Another successful season comes to an end.
Stay tuned for news regarding Presentation Night / Irving's Life Membership Night in the coming days. For now, let's enjoy this moment!
Go Burners!