The WDEA Works Saints are just one win away from their fourth straight McDonald’s T20 Grand Final appearance, after making light work of both the Beverford Tavern Demons and Tyrell Cricket Swans at the weekend.
The Saints remain the only undefeated team in the competition after the Stihl Shop Roodogs succumbed to the Pizza Kitchen Tigers in the final game of round five.
Batting first, the Roodogs posted a run a ball 120, with Mitch Seton-Stewart doing the bulk of the damage at number five with 42 runs off 29 balls, while youngster Mitch Uhlhorn was the chief destroyer for the Tigers with three wickets.
Knowing the only way of staying in the hunt for the Grand Final was to win, the Tigers pushed the scoring along at a steady rate, with Guri Singh’s quick fire 26 at the top of the order matched only by Darren Rushton’s 42 at number four.
Despite continuously losing wickets throughout the innings, the Pizza Kitchen Tigers eventually scored the winning runs with eight balls to spare and two wickets in hand.
The win by the Tigers sets up a mouth watering round this Saturday, with both the Roodogs and Tigers in second and third on the ladder and on equal points, with both teams just one win behind the Saints.
Despite there still being two rounds to play, they are the only three teams that remain in the hunt for the Grand Final, after the Phones R Us Blues and the Autobarn Bombers both suffered losses at the weekend.
The Bombers needed to win both games to remain a chance of sneaking into the top two, but lost their first game on Saturday to the Roodogs at home.
The Bombers won the toss and elected to bat – and thanks to Toby Gray with 38 and wicket keeper Paul Grayling with an unbeaten 37, were able to post a very competitive 5 for 153 at the end of their twenty overs.
The Roodogs Ben Shepherd wasted no time in chasing down the mammoth total, blasting 55 runs in quick time, before being bowled by Ryan Barnes, with the score on 91.
Skipper Kade Benfield then took up the challenge, as he too scored a quickfire 30 before being run out.
Needing 15 runs off the final over for victory, it seemed as though the Roodogs luck was about to run out – that was until Jordan King blasted 18 runs off the last six balls, including a boundary off the final ball of the game – to see the Stihl Shop Roodogs home.
Despite their finals hopes being in tatters, the Bombers were able to pick themselves up for their final game of the weekend against the Phones R Us Blues, where they managed to do to the Blues what the Roodogs did to them – and end their premiership hopes.
Again, the Bombers won the toss and batted first – and once more Toby Gray led the way at the top of the order with another handy score of 46 to get their innings started.
With 27 from Laine Gibbons and 24 not out from Marty McDonald, the Bombers were able to post another very competitive score of 148.
They clearly learnt their lesson from the first game, as this time around the Bombers were able to defend their total, taking wickets at regular intervals to restrict the Blues to just 8 for 126, with Toby Gray proving he’s not only able to swing the willow, but he can also swing the cherry, taking 3 for 27 from his four overs.
The WDEA Works Saints remain the team to beat, after disposing of the Beverford Tavern Demons and Tyrell Cricket Swans by nine and six wickets respectively.
Once again, the Saints bowlers did the job, as they restricted both the Demons and the Swans to scores of less than 90 in both games.
With no bowler going for more than a run a ball across either match, the Saint’s bowling attack is proving to be the most troublesome in the competition to get a hold of.
The fact that no team has, to this point, been able to take the long handle to the Saints bowlers has made life easier in their run chases, with the boys from Ken Harrison cruising home with plenty of balls and wickets to spare in both games.
It was a dirty weekend for the Swans in fact, as not only did they lose to the WDEA Works Saints, but they also went down to the Pizza Kitchen Tigers out at Woorinen.
Unlike the Saints game however, the Swans posted a very challenging target for the Tigers, scoring 3 for 152, thanks to a solid 49 from skipper Cal Noonan and a hard-hitting 38 from veteran Alan Hatcher.
The Tigers were up to the task however, with Guri Singh capping off a fantastic weekend with 64 runs opening the batting, to guide the Tigers to their second win of the afternoon with two overs to spare.
