David and Goliath ... Casey South Melbourne and Carlton - Vic Premier Cricket Grand Final
Editors note: Some Saturday indulgence. Carlton and Casey-South Melbourne play off for the VIC Premier Cricket 1stXI premiership today, at the delightful Albert Ground, in Melbourne. Some words, and ramblings on what looks to be, an interesting day.
Last weekend, Carlton dominated regular season front-runners St Kilda, in their semi-final, with bat and ball. And, Casey-South Melbourne accounted for Richmond in a low-scoring, ball-influenced game at Casey Fields, Cranbourne East.
Pitching a 'David and Goliath' contest is a little over-dramatic, still, when you look at the back-story, it certainly looks that way. Casey-South Melbourne, play in their first Grand Final for 34 years, and look to win only their second 1st XI title, their first coming in 1966/67 - a very significant year! Ahhh - that makes it a 55 year drought!
Carlton, a perennial finals player, on the other hand, only has to travel back to the 2018/19 season when they defeated Geelong, chasing down a huge first innings total. Indeed, this was a final played with a Red Kookaburra. Recording their eighth premiership.
Will Carr, the Casey South Melbourne Coach, previously owned the keys to a South Melbourne nightclub - The Marquee. It might now have a different name.
At that time, Carr was a popular man in club cricket circles, for obvious reasons! Drink-cards, free entry, opposite sex introductions, etcetera, etcetera.
If his team can win today, he is likely to receive the keys to the city of Casey and South Melbourne combined.
Carr has a cricket pedigree too. He bowled 'heavy rocks' from a short bustling run, and when his mechanics aligned he also produced late out swerve to right-handers. His bouncer was seldom off-target, and he competed robustly. It seems he liked bouncers.
In club cricket this was displayed for Dandenong, and later St Kilda.
Carr also played six Shield games for Victoria, collecting 25 wickets at 20.88, knocking over some fine players. Injuries curtailed his first-class career.
In his first season as Head Coach, the amiable Carr has done a fantastic job getting his team from last years lowly ladder position, all the way to a grand final. Testament to his own drive, commitment and enthusiasm.
His opposite today is an anomaly in present-day club cricket. Evan Gulbis, captain-coach, of Carlton, is exactly that; he plays, and captains the team, and coaches the team, and the club. All this from a home base in Tasmania. Work that out!
Coaching, and captaining, is an exception in today's club cricket. You have to go back to 2012/13 - Andrew Kent, Melbourne CC, to find the last player to combine the roles, but he did have reasonable help though!
Kent, and Melbourne, pulled in three 1st XI premierships; two-day, one-day and T20, as well as a club championship, and lower grade flags. So it can be done, and done well.
Gulbis was the standout player in the semi-finals, he combined for (94 from 121 balls & 5/29 from 8.5 overs) and has rock-solid pedigree in finals cricket. The aforementioned premiership win over Geelong, saw him make an imperious (148* from 202 balls) to see his side past the 409 run target. The Cats boys are still waking up at night!
For me; Carr and the Casey-South Melbourne attack, have to un-lock the Carlton batting. They start with three explosive batters at the top; the middle order knows exactly what to do, and when to do it, and as we saw last week, the middle and lower order can finish innings.
Nick Ross (#5) and Ruwantha Kellepotha, the Casey-South Melbourne leg-spinner (who finished the home-and-away season with 31 wickets at an average of 15.84), loom large as a key match-up through the middle overs. Ross, Carlton's best player of spin, is pivotal in the #5 spot. He sweeps, plays from down the pitch, and paces run-rates perfectly. He is book-ended by the Smyth brothers, Harrison and Tom, and then smart batters at 7, 8 and 9. And, that’s not discounting the only international playing today, Cam Stevenson, who could easily float as a destructive hitter in the lower-order.
This is where Casey can start to build pressure, saying that though, they have to get through a very powerful top-order first.
If you were putting together a team with unlimited draft picks, no salary cap, and zero bidding competition. This Carlton team is as close to perfect as I can see for this format.
So, if it is David and Goliath stuff, on this occasion, I will have to take Goliath. It does shape as a fascinating game, though.
Carlton, and their Captain-coach, to prevail. Sorry, Wilbur - any chance of some drink-cards later!
Haha, what a lovely read 👌