A massive crowd of over 3000 fans has witnessed a nail biting finish to the 'Australia Day Goes GloBALLPresented by iPrimus' ' cricket clash between the Bombers and the DEC Bushrangers.
Chasing an imposing target of 114, the Bombers managed to clinch a memorable victory by 17 runs in the final over of the day.
“Today was a great day, not only because of the cricket match but because of the joint GloBALL program with the DEC Bushrangers, helping new migrants to Australia through sport,” Essendon Coach James Hird said.
“It’s just a terrific chance for fans to come out to Windy Hill and have some fun on Australia Day,” He said.
Chasing an imposing target of 114, the Bombers managed to clinch a memorable victory by 17 runs in the final over of the day.
“Today was a great day, not only because of the cricket match but because of the joint GloBALL program with the DEC Bushrangers, helping new migrants to Australia through sport,” Essendon Coach James Hird said.
“It’s just a terrific chance for fans to come out to Windy Hill and have some fun on Australia Day,” He said.
Winning the toss and electing to bat, a number of head high bouncers from Hird had the Bushrangers under pressure early.
But the Victorian batsman quickly settled and managed to get on top of the Essendon bowlers. Some power hitting from Andrew McDonald and Aaron Finch helped push the Bushrangers total passed 100.
Kyle Hardingham was the surprise packet in the field taking three impressive catches. The high flying forward also took two wickets including a caught and bowled.
The Bombers made a disastrous start to their innings and at one stage online contestant winner Rebekah Carlin was forced to fend off a hat-trick ball from Globall participant Murali.
With four over’s remaining, the Bombers still required a massive 70 runs for victory and a comeback looked unlikely.
But against the odds, a massive partnership from Brent Stanton and Jason Winderlich smashed the home side into contention.
Winderlich top scored for the day with an unbeaten 40 runs including several big sixes into the crowd. So impressed with his batting performance, Victorian Matthew Wade offered the Bomber midfielder a spot in Bushrangers side on Friday night at the MCG.
“He hits a beautiful ball and to hit a six as clean and as big as that is remarkable that’s for sure,” Wade said during the match.
With the crowd in full voice and well and truly behind the Bombers, Henry Slattery and Kyle Hardingham safely guided Essendon to victory.
The Australia Day Goes GloBALL cricket match is an event proudly supported by the Victorian State Government and iPrimus.
“iPrimus is delighted to continue its support of the GLoBALL program through our partnership with the Essendon Football Club. The ‘Australia Day Goes GLoBALL’ event at Windy Hill is yet another wonderful example of the GLoBall program, with assistance from program partners Essendon Football Club and Cricket Victoria, delivering on the programs key objective of working towards social integration for international students and new migrants to interact with the broader Victorian community,” iPrimus CEO Ravi Bhatia said.
Launched in 2009, the GloBALL program is a joint initiative run by the Essendon Football Club and Cricket Victoria which aims to help international students and newly arrived migrants settle into life in Australia. In 2010, the program saw more than 4000 participants receive the opportunity to participate in various football and cricket activities including free entry to matches, clinics and tours.
A big thanks to adidas, who provided all the playing gear for the two teams and many items have been signed and will be auctioned online in the coming days with all money raised to go towards the Victorian Flood appeal.
A gold coin donation on entry to the ground will go towards the appeal, with more details to come on the final amount raised.
Watch the James Hird press conference here on Bomber TV
