ALLANSFORD captain-coach Kyall Timms said yesterday’s Warrnambool and District Cricket Association division one grand final win left him with an empty feeling.
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The Gators were routed for 76 runs at Merrivale Recreation Reserve on Saturday and West Warrnambool was 0-7 at stumps.
But yesterday’s play was washed out, abandoned at 4.30pm, and Allansford was awarded the premiership after finishing the home-and-away season on top of the ladder.
“I suppose you take the trophy but it’s just left me with a very hollow feeling,” Timms said.
“To say we were in a bit of trouble was an understatement of epic proportions ... we were completely stuffed. They had us.”
The rot set in early for Allansford on Saturday with Timms removed for a duck, closely followed by opening partner Bill Primmer for three runs.
There was a steady flow of wickets, with No. 4 Matt Forsyth (20), division one cricketer of the year Sam McCluggage (15) and youngster Connor Arnott (16) the only batsmen to reach double figures.
Big quick Anthony Hawken led the charge for West Warrnambool, taking 4-22 off 10 overs, miserly Simon Johnson claimed 3-17 off 11.2, Ben Cust 2-12 off eight and Anthony Chirnside 1-18 off nine.
“They bowled well,” Timms conceded.
“They set good fields and took good catches but at the end of the day you earn your place on top of the ladder and we had a great season. If it’s raining you want to be sitting on top of the ladder and that’s where we were.”
Overnight Saturday Timms said he held out little hope of being able to turn the game around.
“At the end of Saturday I didn’t think we had a chance of winning but by this morning we knew there was a heap of rain coming. They predicted it would hit Warrnambool about noon and that’s exactly what happened,” he said.
“Even all through the day I thought if there was a break in the weather we were in trouble. They only needed an hour and they would have been able to win.”
The skipper predicted a Twenty20 style run chase if the weather had cleared.
“Right up until 4.30pm I thought they only needed an hour,” he said.
“I suppose you take these wins. We worked really hard all the way through the season. We had a lot of individual success, a lot of players in the team of the year. When we look back on this we’ll think about the season and not the grand final.
“We didn’t bat very well but we still came away with the premiership — what else can you say,” he said. West Warrnambool captain-coach Andrew Robb said a break in the weather never looked likely.
“Once it started it set in and was here to stay,” he said.
“We kept looking for a break to come but it never eventuated.
“It’s hard to say how long we would have needed but an hour to 90 minutes would have given us a chance.
“We can sit back and say there’s not much more we could have done. The only thing that beat us was the weather.
“Let’s not pull any punches. There’s nothing more we could have done. “Unfortunately today we didn’t get a chance to finish off the job.”
All three divisional grand finals were abandoned yesterday with the home-and-away ladder leaders winning — Allansford in division one, Woodford division two and Merrivale in division three.
Woodford was also in plenty of trouble at 8-70 overnight, while there wasn’t a ball bowled at Davidson Oval between Merrivale and Wesley CBC due to the southern end of the pitch getting wet overnight Friday.
WDCA general manager Keith Ellerton made a prediction early yesterday weather would play a big part in deciding the grand finals.
About 11am he said there was rain on the radar between Port Fairy and Portland which stretched all the way back to Adelaide.
“In the four or five years I’ve been involved with the WDCA executive this is the only time that weather determined the results,” he said.
“It hasn’t happened for a long time. The rules are in place and we’ll just have to live with it.”
Ellerton said that even if weather had permitted play yesterday there was no provision for the division three grand final to be played as a one-day contest.
He said there was no other pitch prepared for the weekend and he understood that the match committee had not considered moving the game to Reid Oval, which hosted a Twenty20 match between a WDCA team and the Australia Cricketers’ Association side on Friday night.
“The rain just never stopped after it started just after 11am and I think there’s worse to come,” he said.
“The rules are in place and everybody knew the situation. As a lot of the guys said today it does leave us all with a hollow feeling,” he said.
