After splitting the honours — 2017 (GMC) and 2018 (Murray) — Friday’s Queen Elizabeth Oval decider held even more importance.
But when the dust settled after the heat-shortened clash it was GMC that came out on top — both in this year’s event and the trilogy of clashes as a whole — with a dominant seven-wicket win against its close rival.
The MVCA side — which included Deni Rhinos players Angus Campbell, Andrew Hogan and Dylan Rotherham — went into the clash undefeated.
It was a complete turnaround by the GMC side, which previously lost to MVCA by 126 runs on day one.
With Murray winning the toss and batting, the key wickets for GMC were always going to be openers Riley Gow and Wian Van Zyl.
The dynamic duo combined for 113 of Murray’s runs in the 126-run win from the Monday, but in the final Gow (three) and Van Zyl (0) were both dismissed cheaply, giving GMC all of the momentum.
Campbell struggled with the bat, reaching 10 runs before he was dismissed, leaving MVCA in trouble at 3/17.
Adam De Cicco was not dismissed for the week and finished with a top score of 40 to help Murray to a defendable total of 8/166 in its 35 overs — alongside Hogan (37), Scott Morris (29) and Amar Ullah (28 not out) — but when Dale Shaw (69 not out) and Daniel Coombs (62) got going there was no stopping GMC’s charge to glory.
GMC reached the target in the 31st over, with Yadav (3/30 off seven) and Darcy Elliott (2/23 off seven) earlier snaring impressive figures with the ball for the winner.
The result in the decider was Murray’s only loss for the week, just as the round one fixture ended up being GMC’s only blemish for the tournament.
The division one title was GMC’s third since it defeated Ferntree Gully by nine wickets in 2014.
Despite his pair of ducks to end the week, Van Zyl finished the tournament with the most Division One runs — striking 189 at an average of 37.8.
Hogan (163 at 54.33) and Hinks (156 at 52) were also among the top five, while Yadav (eight wickets at 15.88), Murray’s Ash Quinn (seven at nine) and GMC’s Alistair McCann (seven at 18.86) impressed with their bowling efforts across the event.
As for the Rhinos’ players, Campbell finished the week with 112 runs from five innings, while Dylan Rotherham — who bowled in only three games during the week — managed 2/36 from 13 overs with the ball.
Hogan also impressed with the ball, with the all-rounder claiming 4/41 off 19 overs, bowling in four of the MVCA’s five games.
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