For the Deniliquin District Cricket Association, 2013 was a stellar year.
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It took out the prestigious John Turner Memorial Shield after producing an amazing team effort to win the Bendigo Country Week division two grand final.
The local side held on to win by seven runs in a nailbiting encounter with Northern District.
It was the first time in 14 years that Deniliquin had won a grand final at the popular cricket tournament.
The victory came after a stellar innings from man of the match Andrew Hogan, who finished unbeaten on 75, and a solid half century from star allrounder Lachlan Taylor-Nugent.
Hogan and Taylor-Nugent combined to carve up a 76-run fourth wicket stand.
DDCA skipper Tim Hillier said the win was nothing short of ‘‘euphoric’’.
‘‘It was definitely the best feeling I’ve ever had playing cricket. It was the best win I’ve ever been involved in,’’ he said.
‘‘It was a bit topsy-turvy for most of the game but we had a five over patch (when Deni was bowling) from about the 40th over to the 45th where we kept it pretty tight.
‘‘After that they needed to get about 10 or 11 an over but it was still pretty tense.’’
Playing at Eaglehawk, Deni won the toss and elected to bat first.
It wasn’t an ideal start when leading batsman Brodie Bennett (24) had his castle rattled after a reasonable start, however Tim Hillier and Brad Todd recovered for Deni, adding 31 runs to the scoreboard.
Todd (35) played the ideal anchor role but after he and Hillier (13) were both dismissed by Josh Novoselek, Deni looked to be in trouble.
Hogan and Taylor-Nugent then lifted the DDCA run rate with some expert stroke making.
The two batsmen steered Deni towards the 150 mark, both of them bringing up their half century before Taylor-Nugent was finally caught out for 53.
Hogan continued on as Ranji Oliver (9) fell 16 runs later, leaving the DDCA at 5/170 with enough time still left to make a competitive total.
Oliver Draffin (5) stepped up to the crease, but failed to make an impression.
A list ditch effort from Dean Edge (11) and Brodie Unwin (5 n.o.) helped Deni to their final total of 7/236 from 50 overs.
Josh Novoselek was the best of the Northern District attack, taking 3-42 from 14 overs.
Unwin gave Deniliquin a reasonable start with the ball, capturing the valuable wickets of Clayton Holmes (12) and Jason Keath (0) in the one over.
Brodie Bennett snared Kurt Brereton (52) some time later and Northern District looked in trouble at 3/90.
The opposition regrouped, however, with a 74-run partnership between Greg Dickson and Brad Windridge.
This partnership appeared ominous for the Deni side as both batsmen comfortably defied the pace bowlers.
It brought a piece of expert fielding to bring the batsmen undone when Ranji Oliver ran out Windridge for 36.
Three runs later, Oliver struck again, running out new batsman Isaac Saunders for two runs.
Unwin took another quick wicket which dropped the northerners to 6/167 and all of a sudden Deni were looking the goods.
Another dangerous partnership then developed between Novoselek and Todd Gelletly.
Together the two batsmen frustrated the Deniliquin attack and added a further 46 runs to the scoreboard.
Alistair Wells took Oliver’s lead in breaking up the partnership when he ran out Gelletly for 10.
Novoselek (41 n.o.) and Lee Solar (3 n.o.) lasted until the finish for Northern District, which needed 20 runs from the final Tim Hillier over.
‘‘There was a six and four hit and a few ones as well,’’ Hillier said.
‘‘I was just trying to make sure I didn’t bowl a no ball.’’
Unwin finished with 3-68 from 16 overs to cap off a fine carnival for the young quick.
Wells and Matt Robinson also bowled exceptionally well in the final, keeping runs at a minimum.
Before 2013, the last time Deni won a grand final at the Bendigo Country Week was in 1999 when a strong side captained by Steven Beehag claimed the division two title.
After that, the side was elevated to division one where they played in the top tier until 2005 when was relegated back to division two.
It was all down hill from there, though, as the DDCA slid down to division three for the 2006 competition and then didn’t compete for the next four seasons.
‘‘To come from division three and win the division two title was a good effort,’’ Hillier said.
‘‘In the past few seasons we’ve had success in the (NSW Country) Plate but we’ve had nothing to show for it.
‘‘So to get the shield is just incredible. Everyone is rapt.’’