By Tyler Lewis
There’s still time!
Despite claiming just its third win of the season on Saturday, Frankston Peninsula is staring down at a salivating proposition: finals cricket.
There were certainly doubts surrounding the certainty of the Heat’s performance in the lead up to this Saturday, with Greenvale Kangaroos being quite consistent with the bat this year, testing a lot of the inner-city clubs in recent performances.
But the Heat squashed those qualms rather swiftly, delivering a brilliant display with the ball, before completing the performance with the willow.
The Roos won the toss an opted to bat on the same wicket-square that was a nightmare for batters early last week.
After getting to 43 without any casualties, the Heat bowlers – particularly Test spinner Jon Holland – put the clamps on the visiting side.
Holland worked the Roos over, collecting 4/20 from his 10 overs.
While skipper James Nanopoulos stereo typically toiled away for his 3/36 from 9.4, promising all-rounder Brodie Symons was more than tidy with 1/26 from his 10.
The Heat were set just 10/152 after bowling 49.4 overs
Nanopoulos’s stay at the top of the order last week was brief, and he backed in regular opening-pair Ryan Hammel and Vish Bansal.
Bansal repaid his skippers faith, by blasting his side home.
The left-hander – whom is enchanting when on – blazed his way to 86 from 67 balls, and hit a mesmeric eight sixes to go with his five fours.
He was dismissed just five runs from the Roos total, missing out on the niche opening batter milestone of carrying his bat through the innings.
Symons was the other main contributor with the bat, adding 40 not out.
Though he would be a happy captain, Nanopoulos secured a second duck in as many weeks.
While the win is just the Heat’s third, a more than generous draw and an intense log-jam in the middle of the ladder suggests Frankston Peninsula’s desire to play finals cricket is far from over.
The Heat (now 14th) are just six points out of the eight – one bonus point win away – and have just one opponent in the run home placed inside the top eight (Ringwood: 8th).
A draw that includes three teams below them in the next three weeks.
If the Heat were to pull of an enchanting run home, it would be the club’s first Victorian Premier Cricket finals appearance since season 2012/13, where the Heat finished eighth and were knocked out in the opening week.
