Winning the Shield - Siddons

[Donny]

Jamie's shield of joy

By KEN PIESSE - H.S. Sunday

THE passing years can dull even the keenest memories, but Jamie Siddons's recall of the greatest game of his life is still razor sharp.

Hero of Victoria's most recent Sheffield Shield/Pura Cup triumph, in 1990-91, Siddons can remember almost every shot -- and even the fact he didn't sleep the night before.
"It was such a big occasion for us all," he said. "We'd set ourselves up that year, and probably for five or six years, with that group of players.

"We were expected to win, but we'd batted so badly in the first innings. I didn't sleep at all that (last) night. You just lie there and think, 'Why aren't I sleeping?'

"It wasn't until the next morning in the rooms, when there was another rain delay, that I actually shut my eyes and was able to doze off for a while."

The final had been a gripping, low-scoring affair with neither Victoria nor NSW topping 225 in any of the first three innings.

Set 239 to score in almost two days, the Vics lost Garry Watts and Geoff Parker cheaply to be 2-27 before Siddons (124no) and Wayne Phillips (91no) shared a double-century stand to secure Victoria's first title for a decade.

"That game and that innings remain my fondest memories of my time as a Vic," said Siddons, now assistant-coach with the Southern Redbacks.

'The only time I thought I was out was in my 70s when I skied one down to third man. When I hit it I thought, 'I'm gone'. But Geoff Lawson had crept in too far and it went a bit further than he thought, as well, landing just inside the fence."

Victoria's star signing Darren Lehmann, the next man in, spent almost five hours with his pads on, but wasn't needed.

"After the early wickets and the way the match had gone, I thought I'd be straight in," Lehmann said.

"But I wasn't. Jamie and Wayne Phillips (91 not out) played that well it wasn't funny. There was never any doubt that we would get the runs.

"It was a great moment for me. Winning the Shield was what it was all about. Then to do it back home in South Australia in 1995-96 really capped it off.

"Some play for a whole career without winning even one. I've played in two. I'm very lucky."

Then Victorian captain Simon O'Donnell said the bond between the winning group was as strong now as it was then.

"It'll always be a fantastic memory for us, no matter how far down the track we all get," O'Donnell said. "Blokes see each other from that side now, say 'G'day', and it all floods back.

"In the end we handled the pressure of a final better than they did. 'Rowdy' (Phillips) and Jamie were so controlled. To turn it around like they did, with a double-century partnership in what otherwise was such a low-scoring, match was simply fantastic."