SNEAKING a shot through point, Colin Wakefield chalked the winning runs in an epic Hollywood-style conclusion to the Ballarat Cricket Association club fourths final.
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It all came down to the final ball at Alfredton 1.
Golden Point needed one run to win because remaining tied would deliver the premiership to Mount Clear on the first innings. Point had to make seven off the final over. Wakefield was dropped on the first ball.
This was the only BCA senior grand final to reach a fourth day’s play and Point’s premiership celebrations, secured in the thirds a day earlier, were already well under way.
Point president Mark van de Heuvel said he had never seen a country cricket crowd erupt like it did.
“Everyone ran on the ground. A few of the older blokes had tears in their eyes,” he said, sporting his thirds premiership medallion. “It’s just terrific. As club president, I’m just so proud of what the boys achieved.”
Victory marked a special milestone for long-time Pointie Jim Maggi, who is now the only player to have won the flag in every senior division for the club, firsts to fifths.
Point fourths captain Tim Gawne said this was a battle players would remember. And the tales about what unfolded were likely to become more dramatic with each retelling.
Gawne said the match was an arm-wrestle with Point trailing 17 runs after the first two days. They returned on Saturday and “bowled well and fielded like champions” to get the Mounties 4-11 early in the second innings.
But the Mounties recovered to bat out the day.
Point struggled early with the bat on Sunday, too, and batted deep. The final pairing of Wakefield and Patrick Clark had to make 44 runs.
Wakefield starred with the bat – 91 in the first innings and then unbeaten on 86.