The third edition of the Goulburn Valley Bush Bash League offered a chance at history for Liam Smith and his SRP Mud Dogs teammates.
With owner Steve Reeves and team manager Peter Holland putting together an all-star cast, the Shepparton-based side has long been the tournament’s measuring stick, and has won both of its titles in clashes against Hurley’s Hotel Hounds.
But looking through the history of sport, we all know the mark of a true dynasty is achieving the three-peat, which heading into the season many expected this side to achieve.
Unfortunately, this was a feat the Mud Dogs could not achieve, with a devastating one-run loss to the Hounds at Kyabram Recreation Reserve on Sunday having them miss out on the final by the barest of margins.
And if you ask Smith, who led the Mud Dogs in GVBBL3, the loss was a tough one to take as they forfeited the opportunity to defend their title on grand final day.
“It sucks that part of it (not being able to go back to the final), but it is what it is,” Smith said.
“We put on a fair show today and I’m happy with the guys we’ve got in our group, we thought we had the squad to take us a long way, but unfortunately today it just wasn’t far enough.”
Heading into the final match of the home and away season the task for the Mud Dogs was clear.
Win and you’re in.
But standing in their way was a red-hot Hounds side, which on the back of another classic knock by legend Paul Newman ended up posting a total that was just too much for Smith’s side to chase down.
“It was an awesome game of cricket and unfortunately we just got done by one batter at the top for them (Newman) who just batted so well, we couldn’t set a field to him or stop him,” he said.
“With our batting I thought we did a good job with a few good partnerships, but unfortunately nobody could turn that 30 or 40 into a 70 or 80 like they did and that proved to be the difference.
“The ending was certainly tense, the game ebbed and flowed a lot in those last few overs, we were all standing up watching on nervously, but unfortunately we just couldn’t get over the line.”
Despite the Mud Dogs coming to a premature end, Smith said he still thoroughly enjoyed the experience of leading the team for another season.
“It’s an amazing competition and I loving being part of it,” he said.
“Captaining it as well is both easy and hard as the bowlers know what they are doing, but you are up against batters you’ve never seen before, so it could be a bit difficult at times.
“We only took away the one win, so it wasn’t the best season results wise, and the draw this morning meant we had to win and we couldn’t, but we still had a great time and hopefully we can come back bigger and better next year.”