Sport
19 December, 2022
Laanecoorie Dunolly capture one-day grand final thanks to Samit Gohil brilliance
Laanecoorie Dunolly stand atop the Maryborough District Cricket Association once again, securing their fourth title in the one-day game in succession, following an eight-wicket victory over Colts Phelans. The all-round brilliance of Laane’s squad...
Laanecoorie Dunolly stand atop the Maryborough District Cricket Association once again, securing their fourth title in the one-day game in succession, following an eight-wicket victory over Colts Phelans.
The all-round brilliance of Laane’s squad shined on Saturday, chasing down their target of 121 with 56 balls to spare.
Joe Lovel took four wickets in a spectacular outing with the ball, but it was Samit Gohil who took the plaudits as man of the match for an all-round game which saw him take 1/16 with the ball from eight overs, before scoring an unbeaten 76 to drag Laane out of trouble from 2/4 in the early stages to win the premiership.
Both he and Zach Graham shared in a partnership that took in 119 runs, with Graham also finishing unbeaten on 39 in his best knock for the season so far.
Laane captain Matt Smith was impressed with the form of Gohil and Graham, who helped calm the nerves after a slow start.
“Premierships are always fantastic, no matter what the format is,” he said.
“It’s a great achievement. But it was not easy, it was well and truly game on (after the first two wickets) and we were shuffling around in our seats. At times, we were wondering where our next run was coming from. Colts were bowling very well and fielding very well. But it was a grind.
“For Zach Graham and Samit Gohil to put on 115 after batting through five or six overs of incredible bowling is a credit to them.”
Smith praised the efforts of Lovel with the ball, with his four wickets helping Laane restrict Colts’ aggressive game plan.
“Joe is a very passionate kid, he has a big future ahead of him. He fielded 40 overs in the under 16s in the morning, playing until 11.30 am and then was with us by 12 for the A grade one-day final. He works really hard at his craft, and with Samit coming over, he’s been mentoring him and taking him under his wing. For a young guy like that, what an experience. It can only benefit him,” he said.
“If you put the balls in the right area, something will happen. It’s something our bowlers did as well. I thought we bowled really well. They were always going to come out hard at us but we were able to hold them, and that forced them to try their hand in the second half in the innings. For us to take seven wickets at the end was incredible. It was an all-round even performance from the boys, which impresses me.
“Samit was really handy with the ball over the last few weeks. He came across and started bowling leg-spin, as we had Benny Gunn as an off-spinner. He always bowled off-spin in first-class cricket, so we said we’ll let him go back to off-spin, and he has been able to land it on the spot, tying teams down. I thought Joe was a big beneficiary of that.”
Smith said holding Colts to 120 was vitally important, knowing that they fell short of a total that they could feel confident in defending.
“Our tactics were to contain them. We knew they were going to push hard early on. If we took boundaries out of their game, making them try to hit gaps and run, it would work in our favour. But if they had’ve been able to finish strong and make 150 or 160, it would have been very interesting. But it was lucky that it turned our way through our dedication and hitting the right areas, as well as sticking together in the field,” he said.
“We were happy to hit 110 runs in the last 20 overs, getting through that rough patch at the start while not taking too many risks. Then it all opened up, we were able to find gaps and put bad balls away for four and that’s all you can ask for.”
Smith ultimately believes that the two-day competition — the first since the 2019/20 season — will see Laane at their best, with continued tinkering of their best batting lineup which has seen them lose just 15 wickets for 766 runs so far this season.
“We’re here to win the big one at the end of the season, which is important to us. This one-day title is great, but our job is not done yet. We will look to continue to work hard. Batting has been our strength, and we’ve put a lot of cards into it throughout the season. It held us in good stead having Samit in the squad today, as well as Zach, while having Gunn and Liam Mottram in the shed. We have a lot of batting power, and we think that will hold us in good stead while being steady with the ball,” he said.
“After Christmas, we will see what happens. We are really optimistic about what our best team will look like. But we still have plenty to do. There’s a lot of strong bowling line-ups out there that will keep us on our toes.
“We’ll get to work around January 5, cricket obviously starts back a week earlier than normal after Christmas, so hopefully player availability is good and we can start off with a win post-Christmas.”
Laane’s first two-day game will be a much-anticipated clash with Maryborough at Princes Park, while Colts Phelans will travel to Beaufort to begin their two-day season on January 7.
