As the summer of 2019/20 began, the sun was shining with optimism upon the Kunyung Oval. The scene was set, with pundits casting a keen eye on who would be arriving. Mo finally arrived at something on time, however at the wrong venue. By the time he got to the oval he was late. However, he was upstaged by Britton, who had gotten his time zones confused and turned up just in time for the warm-up to start. With everyone sorted, the cap presentations began with the capped players being as follows;
Ranelagh CC:
- Tim Drummond
- Andrew Richardson
- Morrison Bent
- Jacob Mehrtens
- Cameron Wells
- Sam Forster
- Michael Evans
Moondah CC:
- Mitch Drummond
- James Graham
- Victor Bredin
- Kurt Jungling
- Britton Upchurch
- Rick Jones
-
Robert MaceJack Dunstan
Ranelagh won the toss, and elected to bat. Some were questioning this decision as the pitch looked quite green, however Ranelagh Captain Tim Drummond felt that the hard surface would make it easy to bat on once the new ball was seen off. I don’t think anyone told him that they were playing with tennis balls on a synthetic pitch.
After some teething problems with the scoreboard, scorer Kelly Dunstan was ready, and umpire Greg Drummond called play for the first ever ball of the Kunyung Cup.
First innings – Ranelagh Batting
The game was set to begin as Moondah and Ranelagh had both rolled out their Victorian Premier Cricket trump cards, the Drummond Brothers. Mitch bowling, Tim batting. As the crowd watched on with expectation to find out who was the superior brother, the moment was soured as James Graham continued to sledge from first slip as the bowler ran in. Anticlimactically, Tim Drummond stepped away, causing Mitch to have to run in again. As the ball flew past the off stump to the keeper, the Kunyung Cup was on.
Mitch Drummond struck early, removing opener Michael Evans for a duck, bringing Andy Richardson to the crease. A suspiciously tight shirt showed off Richardson’s biceps, causing the fielders to give themselves room in slight fear. However his innings was the complete opposite to power, playing a crucial consolidating role to get Ranelagh back into the box seat as Tim Drummond continued to tick the scoring over. Mitch then threw the ball to another Kunyung native, Kurt Jungling, to provide the needed breakthrough.
With a strong offside field set and an instruction to “pitch the ball up”, Jungling took it in his own hands and directed a barrage of short pitched bowling at Tim Drummond. As the final six of the over cleared the boundary by only five metres, Moondah were left with some hope that he may miss-hit one enough soon to get himself out. Victor Bredin finally got the breakthrough, dismissing Richardson for 7, bringing Mo Bent to the crease. Bent, obviously threatened by Jungling’s short bowling, ran out to the middle fully kitted up. Surprisingly he had made it to the pitch without being timed out. This also seemed to shock Bent, as soon after he middled a full ball to Mitch Drummond at cover who took a sharp catch. After Forster had played an upper cut for six over cover, and fell shortly after, Moondah seemed to be gathering some momentum.
Enter Jacob Mehrtens. Strength, power and precision. Almost killing a small child that was playing on the playground near the oval, Mehrtens wrestled the game back into Ranelagh’s favour. He smashed 36 off 11 balls, seemingly playing with James Graham and his left arm bowling. Confidence shattered, Graham resorted to any tactic possible, even bowling a ball to square leg to throw his opposition off. Going for one too many, Mehrtens was dismissed just after another extraordinary event. Britton Upchurch had bowled a ball with a straight arm. Something that was deemed impossible, this medical marvel will surely be investigated by the governing bodies to see if the rest of his bowling was actually illegal.
Falling to his achilles heel, Tim Drummond was finally dismissed for 83 off 42, smashing one to point where Upchurch, as shocked as everyone else, managed to take the catch. Tim Drummond said that he intentionally got himself out to give everyone a go. Whether this is true remains to be seen. Cameron Wells came to the crease and instantly impressed, hitting a textbook straight drive. Overestimating his abilities, Wells was clean bowled next ball attempting to play the shot again. Evans and Bent, in their second hits, consolidated the innings, getting the score to an imposing 202. Jack Dunstan was the pick of the bowlers for Moondah, taking 2/15.
First innings – Moondah Batting
Forster, running in with his trademark hell-for-leather style, began the innings. Rick Jones and Graham were at the crease. Some tight bowling put on early pressure before the beginning of a common theme for Ranelagh throughout the day, when Tim Drummond set Graham up and got an edge for an easy catch to Richardson, which was dropped. Richardson still disputes this claim, saying that it wasn’t dropped with the ball not touching his hands and cannoning into his chest.
Forster broke through with the big wicket of Jones early, and when Bent pulverised his way through the rest of the Moondah top order, Mitch Drummond walked to the crease with his side reeling at 4/49. On a hat-trick, Bent ran in with an aggressive field, forcing Mitch to nervously block the ball away. Ranelagh were on top and looking menacing. Rebuilding the innings alongside Graham, the Moondah captain started to settle into his innings, causing his brother to attempt to change the game with the player who swung momentum in their favour during their batting. Mehrtens had taken the ball.
Mehrtens showed his dominance of the Red Hill battle by snicking off Graham, and when Mitch edged a very tactically slow and wide ball from Wells, with some sharp reflexes behind the stumps from Tim, Moondah were languishing. In steps Upchurch, no cricket experience, very questionable batting technique, game saving innings. Clearing his front leg like Babe Ruth, Upchurch hit the ball to the boundary with ease, putting on a very crucial partnership with a patient Jungling at the other end. This allowed Moondah to bring their big guns back in once the partnership was broken, with Jones and Dunstan manipulating the field with ease. Moondah was starting to get on top, and Evans had had enough of fielding in the heat and went behind the stumps. What an inspired move it was.
Jones went to drive a full ball from Tim, and Evans threw himself forward and to his right to take the ball one handed centimetres from the ground. A miraculous catch that was needed to remove a seemingly impenetrable Jones. This keeping masterclass had caught the attention of the Moondah onlookers. Graham brought sausages out to put Michael off his game, but the keeper, undeterred, kept taking the ball cleanly one handed while minimising food spillage onto the pitch. Dunstan continued to score as Mitch Drummond came out for his second hit, and alongside a determined Victor Bredin, Drummond guided Moondah to a respectable total of 189. After recovering from a top order collapse, Moondah had the momentum.
Heading into the second innings, the game was nicely balanced. Ranelagh was in the lead by 19 runs. Jones and Dunstan had both top scored for Moondah with 33, while Bent had led the charge for Ranelagh taking 3/28.
Second innings – Ranelagh Batting
After a brief lunch break, Ranelagh headed out to the crease to bat once again. Wells and Forster started strongly. Forster showcasing his textbook quick running between the wickets, and Wells batting very patiently, Ranelagh seemed in total control of the game. However, momentum can be fickle in cricket. Two quick wickets of Wells and Mehrtens saw Moondah gaining control of the game, however this brought, as later mentioned by Graham as “his nemesis”, Tim Drummond to the crease.
Alongside Forster and then Bent, Ranelagh’s captain seemed in control. Concerned at the lack of run rate, Ranelagh onlookers were remarking how slow Bent was batting, as he had been out there for five overs and hadn’t seemed to have done anything. A frustrated Bent, however, could not get on strike, as he had only faced 3 balls for 2 runs. The partnership was broken when Mitch Drummond burst through his brother’s defences, bowling him out on 31. However, some spirited batting was to come as Ranelagh were now relying on their first innings lead.
After Wells played a textbook straight drive, Ranelagh looked like they were beginning to post a decent total. Much like the first innings, Wells confidently attempted to repeat the dose, and instead of the ball flying to the boundary, it was his bails as he swung through and missed the ball. Moondah were now in control, with Ranelagh sitting at 7/77. As the bowling side looked to the boundary to see who was walking in to bat, Graham remarked “oh f***k off”. It was Tim Drummond.
Bent, who had been watching the carnage from the other end, continued to put up a fight. Tim was looking menacing, moving the ball around with ease. Ranelagh were looking like they could see this innings out and begin to put the game out of reach. One player would have a say in this. James Graham. Providing one of the tactical masterstrokes of the tournament, Graham dismissed Tim by having him hit a half-tracker straight to the tallest fielder on the ground who was right on the boundary. The catch was taken and Graham proclaimed that he had “won the battle” for the day.
Dismissing Richardson with relative ease, Graham had taken 3/25 off 2.5 overs, swinging the game. Ranelagh had faltered to 109 in their second innings, holding a lead of 128. After being in trouble for the entire day, Moondah suddenly had the ascendency. If they could bat their 20 overs, victory would surely be in their grasp. Tim had to rouse his bowlers, many of them who were slightly hungover and sweating profusely in the heat, to attempt to take out a win that was now in doubt.
Second innings – Moondah Batting
With an aggressive field set and needing to take wickets, Tim Drummond threw the ball to his strike bowler from the first innings. Looking as imposing as ever, Bent stormed in striking fear into anyone in a close vicinity who had witnessed him snap a couch in two. Upchurch, promoted to opening the batting, edged one to Evans who took a nice low catch down the leg side. With a look of slight relief of not having to face out the rest of Bent’s aggressive over, Upchurch walked off, bringing Graham, brimming with confidence to the crease.
This confidence was short lived, as Graham was dismissed quickly once again by Mehrtens to leave Moondah in an uncertain position at 2/10. Ranelagh had to take all of their chances to keep themselves in the game and keep their momentum. The chance came, with a sky ball heading towards Richardson. After complaining profusely that his earlier easy drop occurred due to him wearing wicket keeping gloves, he approached the ball with determination. Determination that was unreasonable, as the ball bounced off his hands almost going for six.
Ranelagh were on the hunt, looking for wickets, when their momentum was suddenly halted. A loud noise had distracted the playing field. Jones had fallen off and broken a chair, upending the scorers table in the process. Bredin’s hysterical laughter echoed around the ground, disturbing the Ranelagh fielders. As silence eventually resumed, the question on everyone’s lips was could the bowling side regroup? After dismissing Jungling not long after, Ranelagh were looking like they were back in control of the game.
Moondah needed to settle, and settle they did. After underperforming in the first innings, Mitch Drummond and Jones wrestled back the ascendency, and batted smartly to post an impressive partnership. After seeing off Tim Drummond’s spell and manipulating the field, the two batsmen had sapped the confidence out of the Ranelagh bowling attack. Two further dropped catches from Wells and Richardson outlined a definite area of improvement, with drastic action needed. As Moondah were taking control, Tim threw the ball to Wells, who enticed Mitch with another slow and wide delivery into edging one to the keeper. The game was back on.
With Ranelagh looking to claim some quick wickets, Bredin, who had shown glimpses of brilliance but had struggled with the bat, strode to the crease. The stage was set for a hero, and boy did he deliver. Raising the bat after reaching double figures, Bredin dispatched Bent for four, and saw off Tim Drummond’s last over with and without his eyes open. He took Moondah close to finishing the game off before he skied a ball off Forster to Wells to give Ranelagh slight hope of pulling a miracle out to win the game.
Mehrtens, who had been dangerous with the ball all day, came on to bowl the crucial over, and tied down Jones with his first few balls. However, in an attempt to recover from a disappointing first innings, Jones dispatched two balls with reverse sweeps in a tactical, some say arrogant, manner to finish off a classy 49 not out, and give Moondah CC the inaugural victory.
The match was won, Moondah celebrated. The Moments of the Match were presented by the opposing sides. Britton Upchurch won it for Moondah with his explosive first innings batting. Michael Evans won it for Ranelagh with his remarkable one handed diving catch. As the Kunyung Oval was packed up, the sun set on the 2019 Kunyung Cup.
