ALLANSFORD and West Warrnambool will square off in next week's grand final after tense semi-final victories yesterday.
The manner in which both teams won through to the season-decider couldn't have been more stark ? one successfully defending 250 runs and the other stumbling over the line by the barest of margins in pursuit of just 88.
Defending premier Allansford had to rely on a dogged rear-guard action to eclipse fourth-placed Russells Creek at Reid Oval.
Creek, aiming for its first Div. 1 grand final berth after being beaten in the semis last year, posted just 87 on Saturday with only two batsmen, Jayaweera Bandara (37 not out) and opener Nathan Divall (15), making double figures.
Paceman Stephen Gibson destroyed Creek, taking 5-14 off nine overs. In reply Allansford got to 1-26 before it slumped to 7-50 at stumps.
When play resumed yesterday, Creek captain Ben Boyd trapped Allansford's Brad Sheen lbw from the third ball to tilt the scales in his side's favour.
But numbers nine and 10, youngster Connor Arnott (20) and the experienced Justin Fary, edged to the target despite regular plays and misses.
Arnott guided the ball in the air past gully off Boyd to get his side ahead. But two balls later he was out. Number 11 Josh Parsons and Fary then frustrated Creek as they took the score from 89 to 101. Fary was unbeaten on 20.
Creek attempted to make quick runs in a second innings with the aim of putting pressure on Allansford, but at stumps was 7-64.
Allansford coach Kyall Timms summed up his team's feelings. "I am happy now, I wasn't last night, I was devastated last night," he said.
"We just collapsed. The wicket was good, it was one of those things.
"I was very nervous today but I did have faith in the blokes who were in. You don't want to be relying on your tail to make runs but they were great, they showed us top-order batsmen what had to be done. The way Nobby (Fary) and Connor put a value on their wicket was great."
Timms was full of praise for Arnott, who had to make a choice between a TAC Cup practice match with Ballarat Rebels or the semi-final.
"I sent him a text this morning to wish him all the best and he is as calm as they come, he replied with something like 'no worries, stress less champ, it will be right'. Nothing bothers him and that showed today."
Boyd, who took 4-33 off 20 overs, thought his side bowled well enough to win.
"It (87) wasn't enough but it was close enough," he said.
"Traditionally, semi-finals can often be low-scoring. We bowled well to a point, we created enough chances."
Across town at Davidson Oval, an inspired performance from Nestles all-rounder Brett Eldridge wasn't enough to lift his side over West Warrnambool as the Factory was beaten in a semi-final for the second consecutive year.
Eldridge made an unbeaten 85, a day after he took 4-43 off 19 overs.
But West's batsmen set up the win on Saturday amassing 5-248 with Ben Dobson top-scoring with 49.
While West had six of its seven batsmen make double figures, only Eldridge and Tom Batten 53 and Geoff Williams (25) achieved the same feat as the Factory was all out for 204 off 74 overs.
Simon Johnson was the pick of the bowlers for the Panthers with 3-74 off a marathon 28 overs while Ben Cust took 3-55 off 16.3 overs.
West coach Andrew Robb was delighted with the win, giving his side a crack at its first premiership in 20 years.
"It was a good game of cricket, you couldn't ask for a better preparation coming into next week," he said.
Robb said he told his batsmen to keep wickets in hand on Saturday in the hope they could accelerate late.
After being 1-79 at tea, his plan was executed perfectly with quality strikers Leigh Johnson (34 not out) and Mick Edmonds (31 not out) making match-winning contributions late.
Robb said he never relaxed in the field yesterday.
"While Brett Eldridge was still at the crease you are never comfortable. He can take 10 or 12 an over easily.
''Tom Batten and Brett Eldridge are among the top four or five in the comp and we always thought if they got going it would be tough."
Nestles president Peter Herbert said chasing 250 runs to win a semi-final was a tough assignment.
"They are a lot more experienced than us and as we know younger players are a bit more up and down," he said.
"At tea we were 2-80 and they were 1-79 on Saturday so we were right in it.
''They batted very well after tea on Saturday to make another 170 runs. If you make 250 runs then I suppose you expect to win."
Herbert said his side had not achieved its goals. "Our goals were certainly to finish higher than being beaten in a semi-final," he said.
''When you look at that we haven't achieved what we set out to do.
"We've got some good young players and they'll learn from it but we need our young players to get stronger and train harder."
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