The relief of finally winning a Victorian Sub-district Cricket Association premiership was obvious on the faces of Plenty Valley players and supporters after two seasons of near misses.
The Bats lost in the grand final two years ago and were knocked out in the semi-finals last season after being undefeated all year.
“There’s a lot of relief personally and a lot of enjoyment for the club,” Captain-coach Michael Sheedy said of the north-west grand final win against Roxburgh Park Broadmeadows at the weekend.
Picture gallery: Roxburgh Park Broadmeadow v Plenty Valley
He said the flag triumph was four years in the making, started when Ben Dennett and Justin Jaensch made the switch from Richmond to Plenty Valley. Their move was instrumental in three other players, including Sheedy himself, coming over from the Premier Cricket club.
“We have been able to form a group which has been pretty formidable over the last four years,” he said.
“We have only had nine losses in that time. A flag is the one thing we had missed out on and we have it now.”
The Bats bowled brilliantly to get Roxburgh Park Broadmeadows out for 115, and at 3-85 seemed cruising to an easy win.
“I thought our bowlers were fantastic, with all five of them bowling well at times,” Sheedy said.
But the loss of Sheedy’s wicket changed the game and the Bats lost 3-10.
“That is finals cricket and grand final pressure,” Sheedy said. “It was a pretty poor shot by me, no questions about it. I should have been the one to see us through.”
Sheedy paid credit to Falcons bowler Mitch Johnstone, who took his, and six other, wickets.
“He bowled really well and took 50 wickets for the year,” Sheedy said. “Our plan was to always play eight batters if we could and it certainly won us a flag today.”
Sheedy, playing in his first two-day premiership, said he felt anxious watching his teammates make the runs needed.
He wasn’t surprised when Johnstone decided to keep playing in a bid for a reverse outright win.
“I probably expected it. Mitch is a massive competitor and that group is a competitive group,” he said.
“At the end of the day they wanted to see if they could create some miracle.”
