EASTERN Oval was awash with blue and white on Saturday afternoon as Golden Point emerged from the Ballarat Cricket Association wilderness to break its premiership drought.
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It was right on 6pm when young quick Bailey Van De Heuvel snared the wicket of Tom Bourke-Finn to see the Pointies prevail in an epic three-day grand final battle with Brown Hill.
The result carried Golden Point to its first A-grade flag since 2001-02 and ended the reign of the Bulls, which won the title last year.
In the end, the Pointies’ scores of 164 and 163 were marginally better than Brown Hill’s 146 and 132 and gave them a 49-run success after four hard-fought innings.
For Golden Point captain Josh White, the journey has been a long one to finally lift Ballarat cricket’s biggest prize.
White has been the skipper for a number of seasons and has finally led his side to the pinnacle of the competition.
The top-order batsman, who made an important 48 in Point’s first innings, appeared a relieved man after the match.
“It is a bit of a relief after putting a fair bit of work into it over the years,” White said.
“It’s not just this season, it’s like five or six years work. There’s probably a few other players as well that have played in the side for a long time and toiled away with us and they’re not playing today.”
White said it was great to break the drought.
“There’s a few tears in the eyes for the old fellows, so it does mean a fair bit to not only the boys that played, but everyone,” he said.
Brown Hill skipper Ryan Knowles was clearly disappointed by the result and believed it was his side’s batting that had again let the team down.
Knowles said there had been a couple of key decisions in the match that went the way of the Pointies, but refused to take anything away from the 2015-16 champions.
“They batted a lot better than us. Even though it wasn’t a high-scoring game, they still probably spent a bit more time in the middle than what we did,” Knowles said.
“Well done to them. They’ve been at the top the last two years so we can’t do much about it – they’ve deserved it.”
In a match of small margins and momentum shifts, perhaps the most significant contribution came from Saman Jayantha.
After securing an 18-run first innings lead on day two, Golden Point was in deep trouble early in its second dig before the Sri Lankan steadied the ship. He reached 78 by stumps on day two before being dismissed for 81 on Saturday in a knock that helped the Pointies set Brown Hill 182 for victory.
And it proved too much for the Bulls to chase down.
Ryan Knowles’ 56 gave the Bulls hope before he fell in a flurry of wickets that swung the match in Golden Point’s favour.
Brown Hill was going well at 4-90, but quickly slipped to 8-106 and the match was essentially over despite a fighting 24 not out from tail-ender Paul White.
Ogilvie was surely man of the match, with his 50 in the first innings and eight wickets across the three days vital in a tight contest.
Golden Point’s season also captured the fourths premiership, with the Pointies in a commanding position when Ballarat-Redan conceded defeat on Saturday.
The club was unable to capture the thirds title, however, with Lucas winning a high-scoring grand final at White Flat.
Meanwhile, Buninyong clinched the seconds flag with a comprehensive 10-wicket outright victory against Ballarat-Redan.
In the one-day A-grade competition, Elaine won the best-of-three series 2-1 thanks to a four-wicket success against Mt Clear on Saturday, while Creswick Imperials took out the one-day C-grade decider against Ballarat Fire Brigade.
Burrumbeet had already collected the one-day B-grade premiership and a third match was not required at the weekend.
