Roxburgh Park-Broadmeadows won’t be weighed down by the burden of expectation in the finals of Sub-District cricket’s north-west group.
Despite finishing the regular season with the minor premiership and the benefit of a double chance, second-year captain-coach Mitch Johnstone understands the enormous task ahead of a Falcons team with little finals experience.
“We’re excited, we’ve worked really hard, but we’ve obviously come from a little bit further back than some of the other clubs in the top six,” he told Star Weekly.
“It’s so tight this season and our percentage (1.26) reflects that we’re not a dominant team by any stretch.
“We still have a pretty young group and in terms of finals experience it’s quite light on, so I’m not putting massive expectations on the group. If we can win a final and play in a semi, you give yourself every chance of going the whole way.”
It has been a meteoric rise for Roxburgh Park-Broadmeadows over the past two summers.
Johnstone gave up an eight-year Premier Cricket playing career to dip his toes into the coaching pool and when he arrived at the club the Falcons were coming off a disastrous 2012-13 season, when they finished second last.
The task confronting him would have been a major challenge for any coach, let alone a first-timer.
But Johnstone has turned the fortunes of the top side around.
“It’s been good to see something grow,” he said. “Things are trending upwards but we’ve still got work to do in the lower grades to make sure we’re competitive across all grades.”
Roxburgh Park-Broadmeadows secured top spot with a 60-run win over Sunshine in the final round one-dayer at Lakeside Drive Reserve on Saturday.
Johnstone snared 5-10 with his off-spin to have Sunshine all out for 74 in the chase for his side’s 9-134.
The finals appearance should extinguish the memories of last summer, when the Falcons missed out on the finals on the last day of the season.
“We should’ve played finals,” he said. “We were sixth heading into the last game and Yarraville knocked us off. That left a burning desire for the playing group to atone this year.”
The question mark that hangs over Roxburgh Park-Broadmeadows is the batting, as they have made fewer runs (2105) than the rest of the top nine clubs in the competition.
“Bowling and fielding wise, we tend to back ourselves in, so I guess the thing that has to be answered is our batting,” Johnstone said.
“The way we bat will determine how far we’ll go in the finals.”
Mitchell Streiff (380 runs at 34) and Adam Yates (311 at 25) are the only two Falcons batsmen in the top 25 for runs in the competition.
Maybe the lack of firepower in the batting department is irrelevant when it is offset by the bowling.
With two quality spinners and three front-line bowlers, Johnstone is content his side has all bases covered with their bowling.
Johnstone tops the charts with 42 wickets at 11, closely followed by opening bowler Patrick Matautaava with 32 at 12. Streiff, Bryce Preston and leg spinner Adam Yates have all taken more than 10 wickets this season.
“We know we might not have some of the superstars that other teams do, but the closeness of our group makes amends for that,” Johnstone said.
The Falcons will host sixth-placed Ivanhoe in this weekend’s qualifying finals.
VSDCA finals preview
Qualifying finals
Roxburgh Park-Broadmeadows v Ivanhoe (Lakeside Drive Reserve)
Plenty Valley v Yarraville (AK Line Reserve)
Melton v Altona (MacPherson Park)
Finals players to watch
Mitchell Streiff (Roxburgh Park-Broadmeadows): Could stamp himself as one of the premier all-rounders in the competition with a big finals series. Scored 380 runs and took 16 wickets to be a consistent player over the regular season.
Sean Ayres (Plenty Valley): Like a fine wine, gets better with age. Made more than 500 runs at 56 and spun his way to 28 wickets at 11 over the season. The numbers speak for themselves.
Michael Allen (Melton): Has the potential to win the game off his own bat. Made more than 400 runs this season, a quiet summer by his standards, but it was more than commendable as it is his first season back from a broken leg that wiped out his 2013-14 season.
Aaron Maynard (Altona): A player with a big bounty on his head because he can take the game away from you quickly with his batting. Has scored more than 650 runs this summer and thrives in the big moments of key games.
Alex Hewet (Yarraville): Will need to play out of his skin to alleviate the loss of import Harry Finch, who returned to England. A front-line bowler and a capable batsman, Hewet should offset a chunk of the wickets and runs lost by Finch’s departure.
Michael Letson (Ivanhoe): Two bags of five wickets, three bags of four . . . Letson has done all that in just seven matches. He is one of the form bowlers entering the finals, with 24 wickets at 13.
