Victoria secures national title

After clawing their way into the final, having finished the qualifying campaign in third place with a 5-3 record, the Victorians were forced to survive cut-throat encounters with South Australia (170-58), New South Wales (136-74) and Queensland (75-48) to triumph in the most grueling of circumstances.

The victory was the highlight of another impressive campaign for Victoria at the Masters Championships which included a narrow loss to NSW in the final of the Over 45 Men’s division.

Victoria’s Men’s and Women’s Over 30 sides lost preliminary finals to NSW 30-87 and 111-118 respectively, while the Men’s Over 35 side lost a semi-final to South Australia 110-129.

Cricket Victoria Indoor Cricket Manager Ross Gregory gave the campaign his tick of approval.

“If we had won one more grand final it would have been an excellent result,” Gregory said.

“It was a good job from (the Over 40) boys.

“We were pleased with our results.”

Ray Cook was named player of the Over 40 Men’s final, while Peter Van Vegten secured the player of the series award.

As a result, Van Vegten was included in the All Australian team alongside captain Jimmy Boyd, coach Steven Comerford and Adam Luckman.

David Simpson, Rod Bird and Michael Sullivan were named in the Over 30 All Australian side, while Deane Handley won a berth in the Over 35 side and Wayne Turner and Terry Atkinson did likewise in the Over 45 division.

Briony Polkinghorne, who was also named player of the series, and Steph Theodore rounded out the individual achievements by being included in the Over 30 Women’s All Australian side.

The victorious Over 40 side featured Jimmy Boyd (C), Ray Cook (VC), Adam Luckman, Andrew Rhodes, Peter Van Vegten, Tony Pahi, Chris Nuske, Glen Dalman, Darren Buckley, Steven Comerford (Coach/Player) and Sam Bright (Manager).

Click here for full results from the 2012 Indoor Cricket Masters Championships in Adelaide.