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Roos bound to three-peat

March 24, 2022 BY

BPCA A1 premiers, the Anglesea Cricket Club, the team's fifth premiership in seven years. Photo: PETER MARSHALL

ANGLESEA’S dynasty kept growing on Saturday at Inverleigh Recreation Reserve, after claiming its third straight BPCA A1 grand final and its fifth in seven seasons.

The Roos managed to chase down perhaps the best team to challenge them all season in Jan Juc, with the Sharks bowled out for 92 and Anglesea chasing down the total in 24 overs.

Anglesea was at their usual best, nabbing the first two wickets off Jan Juc after just 29 runs were posted by the Sharks’ openers.

When Jan Juc’s Iain Lygo was bowled for a duck, there was a strong sense of familiarity for onlookers as the heavy favourites started to dismantle their opponents. Ben Grinter, who had been Jan Juc’s best batter all season, lasted 69 balls before becoming Elliot’s fourth victim of the day for just 25 and from that point, there was no slowing down the eventual champions.

Despite a slight scare from Ned Cooper and Tyron Norman’s early dismissals with just 24 runs on the board, the composure of Brett Harding, Dale Kerr and Jacob Nolan saw out the remainder of the game and capped off another momentous grand final for the Surf Coast club.

Anglesea captain Ned Cooper, who has been a member of all five premierships, said each of the first four have all felt as important each other, and the fifth was no different.

“It means a lot to everyone, not just the players, but also the club and the supporters,” Cooper said.

“We were super excited that we were able to get the job done as well as our twos who won their grand final too. It was a great day.”

Cooper said the tactics the team employed were nothing irregular or extraordinary, but more of a collective mindset the team had going in prior to the first ball.

“We didn’t have certain game plans for certain players, it was more about us looking to do what we wanted to do, and we knew that if we bowled the tight lines to restrict their batters and baited them into making a mistake, then we were confident that we could get the win.”

Man of the match honours went to bowler Darcy Elliott, who claimed 6/19 off eight overs.

“Darcy’s performance was pretty special,” Cooper said.

“He’s a pretty underrated bowler, he bowls behind Dylan [Taylor] and Dale, we know what he can do and he just had one of those days where in a six-over spell he just ripped through the order and just watching it was special to be a part of.”

Last Saturday marked Anglesea’s 45th straight win without a loss, an accomplishment that spans the past three seasons.