When North Brunswick Rosebank captain Tony Tenuta was asked what they needed to do to beat Rivergum in the North Metro Cricket Association Jika Shield grand final, it was simple.
They needed to get out veteran batsman Alex Jesensek.
Jesensek was the Kookas’ in-form batsman heading into the grand final on the back of knocks of 54 not out, 157 and 82 not out.
The Eagles couldn’t manage to get his wicket – a dropped chance proved costly – and the veteran guided his side to their fourth premiership in six years.
Coming in when the score was on two, Jesensek made 56 not out as the Kookas made 7-124 in reply to the Eagles 9-120.
The knock earned the 49-year-old man of the match honours.
“I love it and the premierships are the things that count and hopefully they keep going and I’ll keep going for as long as I can,” he said.
“I wanted to bat for as long as possible and I definitely didn’t want to go out.
“I wanted to make them play and bat the whole day out.”
Kookas captain-coach Gary Bell said that Jesensek is a champion “who makes the rest of us look good”.
Jesensek said after last year’s grand final loss they were keen for redemption.
“Last year hurt a lot, we were going for four in a row and were in the box seat batting on the second day when we came out and lost.
“We wanted another crack at them, Rosebank are a great team, we were hoping they would win [the semi-final] and have another dip.”
Jesensek averaged 65.30 with the bat, to be the highest run scorer of the season.
Tara Murray
