The 1^st XI fought gallantly after being in dire trouble early in their innings to make Melbourne fight all the way to the Demons two wicket win.

At Toorak Park, Captain Rohan Schreier won the toss and had no hesitation in electing to bat in overcast, and occasional rain, conditions.  Brendan McGuinness strode out intent on smashing the Carlton Blues attack out of the park and he and opened Jonny Wright put on 47 runs for the first wicket before Wright, who had contributed just six runs to the partnership, was caught behind the wicket.

Liam Murphy joined McGuinness and the pair literally savaged the Blues attack, which appeared to have no answer to the powerful hitting of McGuinness and the silky stroke play of Murphy.  The pair’s hitting and running between wickets was delightful to watch as they continued to challenge the bowlers and fieldsmen.

When McGuinness reached his century, he was content to share the strike with Murphy for him to achieve his triple figures.  In a contrast to the early part of his innings, Murphy virtually crept to his century with a series of singles.

  
Brendan McGuinness                                       Liam Murphy

With the available overs quickly being whittled away, the pair continued to pile on the runs, virtually ensuring that the total would be one that the Carlton batsmen would not be able to achieve.

 
Team mates watching McGuinness and Murphy in action.

In a fitting closure to the Prahran innings both batsmen remained unbeaten as the scoreboard showed Prahran at 1/339, with McGuinness on 192 no (21 fours, 6 sixes) and Murphy on 121 no (13 fours, 1 six).

The Carlton openers started their innings in a blaze trying to match the required run rate of 7.54 runs per over or 1.3 runs per ball.  A task that would prove insurmountable for the inner-city rivals.

Opening bowlers Luke Shelton and Michael Nyary suffered at the hands of the Carlton openers, and at 1/54 and 2/92, the Blues were around the required target, but then lost three wickets for 24 runs and at 5/116 were literally out of the match.  Tight bowling and exuberant fielding by the Prahran players saw Carlton eventually dismissed for 184 in the 31^st over.

Tom Humphries was the best of the Prahran bowlers, finishing with the good figures of 4/26 off his six overs, with Alister Lloyd 3/32 (7 overs) and Matt Wilcox 2/20 (5 overs) providing great support.

Brendan McGuinness was named Player of the Final.

Over at The Albert Ground, Captain Neil Schlittler won the toss and also had no hesitation in electing to bat, particularly seeing that the Melbourne players had endured a long day in the field the previous day.

But the innings started disastrously, with the top order unable to handle the bowling of former Prahran quick Phil Halbish.  At 5/53, only Schlittler (33) had shown any resistance.  Adam Bull and Sam Coates started the now regular middle-order fight back, moving the score close to triple figures before Coates was run out for 27.

Shane Jones joined Bull with the score at 7/98 and this pair also showed up the top order as they grafted for runs.  Bull was eventually out for 51, with Jones contributing 23 as the Prahran innings closed out at 165 after 48 overs.

Cameron Huckett started the Prahran defence with two early wickets to have the Demons at 2/4.  Steve Seymour followed up with a wicket just as the Demon batsmen were staring to get settled and then two pieces of inspired fielding which resulted in run outs had the Demons back on their heels at 6/111 after 32 overs.

But similar to the Prahran innings, the Melbourne middle order dug in and started to build their total towards the required target.  James Wild and Shane Jones grabbed some late wickets, but the Demons were eventually able to reach the target, finishing at 8/166 off 47.2 overs.