Bligh Park wins HDCA first grade premiership

In a rain-shortened two-day match, Bligh Park batted out their full 100 overs, amassing a hefty total, and completely removing any chance of North Richmond causing an upset.

As minor premiers for the 2016-17 season, Bligh Park could only lose the title if North Richmond defeated them, but the Bligh Park batsmen, notably Luke Gordon who was the Bradman Medalist for the match.

Bligh Park captain Michael van der Reyden said it was a sweet feeling to win the premiership, after losing the previous two grand finals.

“It is good. It is the first premiership for Bligh Park in first grade, we’ve never won it before,” he said.

“It was our third go at it, and we finally got one, it is a good feeling.”

Van der Reyden said his team backed North Richmond into a corner they could not escape from during the game.

“We didn't get on at the start of the day, but we thought if we batted the 100 overs, they would only get about 30 overs and then we've got it,” he said.

“We have never batted that long before but we dug in.

“Luke Gordon, Chris Gee and Mitch Reagen set it up for us.

“We lost the toss. I would have bowled but we went out on a wet pitch and put on a good total.”

Van der Reyden paid tribute to the club, in particular his dad Mark, who made sure he was down at University Oval every week to get the covers on.

In a season punctuated by washed out games, Bligh Park managed to play in the games that counted.

“Mark got us on for more games, so at the end of the day we played more and won more and that is how we ended up in first position,” he said.

Bligh park scored 380 after batting out 100 overs, leaving North Richmond with a near impossible total to chase.

North Richmond batted for 29 overs, posting 7-163, although with the game well beyond reach, the North Richmond batsmen left plenty of runs on the board.

Isaac Heath batted well to reach 72 for North Richmond during the chase.