Round 10 & the Final.

The westerly was blowing but the sun was up to greet us as we arrived at Ongley 12 to play the unbeaten Freyberg Stallions in the last round before the final. In what could either be described as a bit of a farce or a really exciting day for all involved, 3 teams remained in contention for the final later in the day.

Freyberg were already locked in as they hadn’t lost a game. Maw Haws were next as they were even with us on points but had a superior net run rate and then there was Bloomfield having to rely on a whole lot of technicallities wich all boiled down to having to win big.

Maw Haws had a right to be aggrieved as MCA had clashed the final round of the T20 with the P4 promotion/relegation match, forcing Feilding to default and giving them no chance of furthering their run rate. The fact that Feilding had defaulted to us the weekend before was supposed to even things out but, as so many weekends before, the weather had its say and the round was cancelled. So, if you are still reading this after all that “exciting” jargon I’ll begin.

Captain Trout had arrived early to prepare for the coin toss. After being humiliated by Joe from Old Boys last week he was taking nothing for granted. Fresh off 7 days of tossing practice, Trout stepped up for the big moment. Perhaps it was the week’s worth of practice or maybe it was the fact that this game was a must win, but whatever it was it made this defeat far more humiliating that last week. Forced into the field Ben and Gaz opened the bowling. Both started well, getting appreciable swing and picking up 2 wickets each in their 4 overs. At 4-30 and Ben and Gaz bowled out, the Stallions were left with a job to rebuild their innings. Jase came into the attack and struggled to find his length so was replaced after 3 overs with our premier spin bowler Kurtis. Unfortunately for us, Kurtis had decided that in the penultimate game of the season he was no longer a spin bowler. As he charged in bowling pace, he was dispatched to the boundary multiple times. His over came to an end and the Bi-Polar express left the station for the final time.

Pilch came on to pick up the pieces and that he did, bowling an immaculate 4 overs for 3 wickets and 7 runs putting Freyberg right back in trouble. Trout took up bowling a not quite so immaculate 2 overs at the other end, somehow managing to clean up the Freyberg tail with another 3 wickets. Freyberg Stallions all out for 86.

Well there’s not really mush to say for our batting innings other than how quickly it ended. Jase and George went out with our run rate in their minds. They hit boundaries with apparent ease as the raced through at around 8 an over. They hit a speed bump when George was out bowled on 25 by Dinu Joseph Anickasseril but Randy arrived at the crease and just continued right on eventually getting the target in the 10th over and putting us into the Final.

What seemed unlikely at the start of the day had become reality as we made our way to set up on the boundary of Manawaroa 8 for the final against the team we had just played. Word had gotten around about our fortune and our P4 team turned up to show some support. In his final chance for redemption this season Trout headed out to do the toss with Freyberg’s captain and the 2 official umpires Manawatu Cricket were kind enough to provide. As he walked back, victory was written all over his face. He had won the toss and elected to bowl. We were not sure why but who were we to question the judgement of such a great individual.

With the pitch orientation changed to East/West, Ben opened the bowling into the wind. The first ball swung in late and trapped the Stallions opening batsman in front LBW. Not the start Freyberg were after and it didn’t get any better. A ball later Ben trapped Raynold Ignasious in front for another Successful LBW shout. It was a dream start for Bloomfield with Freyberg left floundering 3 balls in at 1 for 2. Jithu Juby arrived at the crease and showed his intentions straight away by nonchalantly cracking Ben’s 4th ball to the long square boundary for 6. After such a successful first over Gary didn’t want to be left out. Towards the end of his first over he caught the edge of Jithu’s bat with the ball flying through to Jase behind the stumps. The events that unfolded following that dismissal certainly showed the passion both teams had invested in this match. Once the drama had died down Bloomfields demolition job on the Stallions batting order continued. Both Ben and Gaz took another wicket each with combined stats of 5 for 24.

As so often happens in these games a respite soon comes by way of a couple of bad balls and partnership appears to steady the ship. This was not to be one of those games. Pilch and Bish took up the bowling and removed the rest of the Stallion’s batsmen for 9 runs. Freyberg all out for 33.

With the heavy lifting done by the bowlers Jase went out to get as many of the 33 runs he could. He was successful in that, scoring 33 of the 39 runs we scored. George and Randy added 3 runs as they watched Jase unleash, hitting two 4’s and three 6’s and racing us to victory in the 5th over. After falling short in the 40 over format and with the injuries along the way it was one hell of a way to finish Bloomfield’s most successful season since 2010/11.

Big thanks to the P4 guys for coming down to support and other teams (Maw Haws and Palmy) for hanging around to watch. It added to the atmosphere that all our finals should have.

MVP- Ben3, Gaz 2, Jase 1.

Scorecard- (yes, we actually have one)