Victoria’s highest grade of amateur cricket has witnessed what might be its most remarkable grand final ever, after Carlton produced a comeback for the ages to stun Casey South Melbourne for a famous Premier Cricket title.
In the three-day final, the Blues were gone for all money after being bowled out for 171 in their first innings in reply to the Swans’ 212, with Sri Lankan-born Ruwantha Kellepotha, who has represented Victoria in List A cricket as well as for the Melbourne Renegades in the BBL, taking 5/67.
Premier Cricket rules state the team with the highest score after the first innings is adjudged the winner – unless the team behind can win via a rarely seen ‘reverse-outright’ after a completed second innings for both teams.
Needing only to avoid that fate, the Swans seemed safe at 3/95 early on Day 3 of the match, with young gun and frequent Victorian Sheffield Shield representative Ashley Chandrasinghe backing up his first innings 53 by grinding his way to what seemed a title-securing century.
But a four-wicket haul from Blues quick Cameron Stevenson ensured plenty of late drama; despite Chandrasinghe remaining immovable by carrying his bat for a 263-ball 103, wickets fell at the other end as the Swans were bowled out for 209.
The equation left for the Blues, led by club legend and former Victorian representative Evan Gulbis, was a daunting one: they required 250 runs off 36 overs for a reverse outright win, at a rate of nearly seven runs per over.
But riding their luck and crashing boundaries galore, Gulbis and son of a gun Mackenzie Harvey would threaten the impossible, putting on an 88-run opening stand in just nine overs of Bazball-esque mayhem before Harvey was caught at deep cover for a 31-ball 36.
Carlton players Connor Rutland and Tom Smyth celebrate the winning runs in the Blues’ reverse-outright Premier Cricket grand final win. (Image via FrogBox)
From there, the Blues were unstoppable, Gulbis blitzing 62 off just 36 balls to inspire his team to a famous seven-wicket victory, remarkably reaching the daunting target with more than five overs to spare as the horrified Swans saw their title snatched away.
All up, the Blues crunched 18 fours and 10 sixes – made all the more astonishing by the absence of any fielding restrictions.
“Carlton have produced what must be the greatest grand final win in men’s Premier Cricket history!” cried the commentator as all-rounder Connor Rutland pulled the winning boundary through mid-wicket.
“Jubilation for the Blue baggers – absolute heartbreak and despair for Casey South Melbourne.”
An emotional Gulbis was left in tears on the sidelines at the extraordinary result.
Adding to the heartbreak, the Swans were looking to end a 56-year wait for a Premier Cricket title, having last won, as South Melbourne, in 1967-68. It would have been their first since relocating to Casey Fields in 2005.
It’s the first time a team has won a Victorian Premier Cricket grand final via reverse outright since Fitzroy 1953/54, a wait of exactly 70 years.
Chandrasinghe was awarded the John Scholes Medal as player of the final for his 156 runs across two innings – but it wasn’t enough for the success-starved Swans.
>> Check out the full scorecard
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
I think you're right, Dave J. MacGill went from Perth to Sutherland to St George, and finally to North Sydney, from memory. And of course a number were country-origin, while residential qualification rules meant that some ended up leaving eg O'Reilly to North Sydney.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Indeed, and for most of these guys I believe it was either the first grade club they played with, or the one they spent most years with. Though not sure about MacGill in that regard.
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
Reverse psychology ?
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
+ Bill Watson makes 14.
Paul
Roar Rookie
All from the one club? Geez that's a fair list of names. I think I've just found a new hobby- going to look into each of the Victorian Premier Cricket clubs and see what I can dig up.
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
+ Moises Henriques, Stuart MacGill
JohnB
Roar Rookie
Doc, similarly a close follower of cricket for 50 plus years (in Qld) and never heard the term. It's an outright win, whether you won or trailed on the first innings. I thought googling "reverse outright" supported this - the first page of results, interspersed with reverse mortgage pieces, shows a handful of news reports using the term, but these all seem to be Victorian and recent. However, the second page of results does include one for a Brisbane club result (involving the Gold Coast club). I can only think that this term is a relatively recent invention.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Oh yes, I miscounted and added Miller, thinking he filled in as captain in one match. But he didn’t. Definitely a contender for one of the best club all-time sides ever, though I assume it represents a couple of different clubs and wonder how many of them spent a lot of time at Sth Melbourne. The best club pedigree I’m aware of is St. George in Sydney: Arthur Morris Les Favell Bradman Norm O’Neill Brian Booth Alan Fairfax Ray Lindwall Bill O’Reilly J Hazlewood Kerry O’Keeffe Trent Copeland Murray Bennett Kurtis Patterson
Paul
Roar Rookie
They all played test cricket but 5 were Australian test captains - Linsday Hassett, Bill Woodfull, Graham Yallop, Ian Johnson, and Harry Trott. In total, this team has a combined 394 tests between them. 12th player Wayne Phillips played 1 test, against India in 1991/92 at the WACA.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
7?
mrl
Roar Rookie
Brilliant!
Paul
Roar Rookie
Hey Peirro, how good is it to see local cricket coverage on The Roar? If they keep this up I won't need to keep my subscription to Codesports! If you're a watcher of Vic Premier Cricket, do you have any thoughts on a team of the season?
Paul
Roar Rookie
Sorry, wasn't trying to convince you otherwise. I was just reinforcing your statement that the result isn't final until the game is done. A first innings lead is a first innings lead and becomes redundant once the match is done.
Rusty Brooks
Roar Rookie
The English team have been claiming reverse victories for a while now.
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Would beat any wa team that’s for sure
Pierro
Roar Rookie
Doc you’re showing your state bias and anger towards Victoria just enjoy the story and stop making it about wa . I’m getting concerned you’ve been blogging with don too long
Ben Pobjie
Expert
Deano would be proud.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
Uh huh, but that still doesn't justify the term.
Griffo 09
Roar Rookie
Growing up playing 2-day cricket games, outright wins were what only really good teams did to really bad teams. Typically, if it happened at all, it was by an innings and I think I thought at the time that this was a prerequisite. Even a 3-day game can make it pretty hard to get an outright win unless you dominate the other team as it’s difficult for to fit four full innings into the match in that time. This means that outright wins to the team with the first innings lead are much, much more common than to the team trailing on the first innings. It is simply not the norm when it comes to outright wins. It would seem to me that this is why the term ‘reverse outright’ has been coined, to describe an occurrence so rare, it deserves its own term.
Paul
Roar Rookie
Tufanoo, it's seems like it's a provisional thing. I was at the Carlton v Melbourne GF at the same ground last year. Melbourne batting line-up were sitting behind me and let loose an almighty roar when they took the first innings lead, it seems like it's very much an insurance policy if the match is drawn. They'd end up a only a handful of runs short of an outright victory but Carlton got through the overs.