Last ball of the day seals the deal

– Stuart Teather
A MICHAEL Firrito six on the last ball of the day sank the Gembrook-Cockatoo Football Club in its Twenty20 clash with a team of AFL All Stars on Sunday.
Firrito, a former Brookers junior, sank his old club by launching the ball over the fence to seal the game for the AFL team, made up of five Kangaroos, St Kilda’s Stephen Milne and a collection of the Brookers’ finest.
Along with Firrito and Milne, Lee Harding, Daniel Pratt, Josh Gibson and Corey Jones took to the field for the All Stars team. While Firrito may have hit the winning runs, it was fellow Kangaroo Daniel Pratt who proved a natural at the crease.
The North Melbourne defender plundered 28 runs in his first knock, and then came back in at the end of the innings for another 33.
Club president Steve Goodie, who played in the AFL All Stars side, said all of the AFL boys were handy with a bat.
“They could all play a bit. Micky Firrito did well, Daniel Pratt could hit a ball, Josh Gibson was very good in the field,” he said.
Goodie was keen to mention that Brookers assistant coach and former St Kilda star Aussie Jones did not have the best day.
“Aussie dropped a couple of catches,” he said with a laugh. “But he did stump me.” A crowd of around 500 turned out to support the day, and Goodie said the AFL players were generous with their time.
“The AFL boys were really good with the kids with signatures and photos and things like that, they were really accessible to the kids.” But there were two absentees, with Brendan Fevola and Brady Rawlings sending their apologies.
Of the locals, Rick Clarke top-scored with an unbeaten 53, while his brother Lee took the catch of the day, a diving grab to dismiss Lee Harding for 29.