FOR the second straight season, the WDEA Works Saints and the Pizza Kitchen Tigers will meet in the McDonald’s T20 Grand Final.
The Saints have taken all before them to start the 2021-22 season and are yet to lose a game, finishing off their home-and-away campaign in style at the weekend with wins against the Stihl Shop Roodogs and Wandella.
The Tigers and Roodogs entered Saturday’s games on the same points in the battle for second spot.
By day’s end, there was one clear winner, with the Pizza Kitchen Tigers getting the job done against the Phones R Us Blues, before enjoying the bye in the final round.
After showing much improvement throughout the first five rounds, the Roodogs fell away badly on the final afternoon, losing not only to the undefeated Saints, which ruined their Grand Final hopes, but also going down to the Tyrell Cricket Swans in the late game.
The Saints would be well pleased with their tournament, but saved perhaps their best for the final day.
Batting first against the Stihl Shop Roodogs, the WDEA Works Saints found themselves in a spot of bother early, losing their first four wickets with just 25 runs on the board.
That bought Jack Shannahan and Corey Daniels together, with Daniels scoring a quick fire 27, before Josh Waldron rearranged his furniture with the score on 57.
Shannahan then set about rebuilding the innings, batting through to finish not out on 45 – and setting the Roodogs 113 to win.
The Roodogs appeared to be well on the way to victory with the score at 3 for 58, until Corey Daniels returned to the attack to remove both the set batsmen in Mitch Seton-Stewart and Kyle Symons.
Kade Benfield, batting at number seven, continued to push the score along, before he was caught for 18.
The Stihl Shop Roodogs then completely disintegrated, losing their last five wickets for just ten runs, to be all out for 97 with one ball remaining in the match – losing not only the game, but their McDonald’s T20 premiership hopes as well.
Playing just the one game for the afternoon – and knowing that a win would more than likely put them through to this Friday nights decider, the Pizza Kitchen Tigers threw everything they had at the Phones R Us Blues to record a comfortable six wicket win.
Winning the toss, the Blues batted first and started in fine form with a 41 run opening partnership between Ryan Hinton (26) and Paul Munro (18).
When Guri Singh removed Hinton however, the wheels quickly fell off the Blues wagon, with Tristan Dalbon the only other batsman to reach double figures (26), as the Blues collapsed over the final ten overs to finish with 8 for 90.
For the Pizza Kitchen Tigers, Guri Singh and Jim Degrigorio were the chief destroyers, both claiming three wickets each.
In reply, the Tigers made light work of the run chase, with Darren Rushton leading the way with an unbeaten 33 at number four, as the visitors got home with six wickets and three overs to spare.
The final game for round six was at the Showgrounds, where the Tyrell Cricket Swans and Beverford Tavern Demons played one of the highest scoring games for the competition.
The Demons recent issues with the bat were non-existent, as an 83-run second wicket partnership between youngsters Drew Lloyd (30) and Charlie Boulton (79*) helped set up a comfortable Demons victory.
When Lloyd departed with the score on 99, Boulton was then joined by his brother Oliver, and in scenes reminiscent of twenty years ago – when two other Boulton brothers plundered attacks to all parts – they set about putting the game out of the Swans reach.
The Demons finished their innings at 4 for 160 – by far and away their best performance with the willow in the tournament – and ultimately a score that would be insurmountable for the Swans.
The Swans started strongly, with a 43 run opening stand between Alan Hatcher (23) and Cal Noonan (19), but when both departed within a matter of overs, the Swans were cooked.
Andrew Clark provided a late cameo with a fast scoring 52 off 30 balls, but it was too little too late, as the Tyrell Cricket Swans could only muster 119 off their twenty overs to fall 41 runs short.
Of the bowlers, another Demons youngster in Mackie Rogers was the standout, not only taking 3 for 14 against the Swans, but backing it up with a very impressive 1 for 20 from his four overs in his teams win eight wicket win over the Blues in their second match – a game which also featured a powerful 27* off 10 deliveries from Justin Toomey.
While the result didn’t go the Swans way in their opening match, they certainly didn’t miss out in their following game against the Roodogs, with Lachie Edwards (84*) and Alan Hatcher (64) combining to blast the Swans to 4 for 164. The Roodogs made an excellent fist of the run chase, but ultimately fell seven runs short.
The final match saw Wandella, who enjoyed the bye in the earlier game, bat first and post a competitive 113 against the WDEA Works Saints.
It wouldn’t be enough however, as Jake Foster (52) and Riley Daniels (37) made light work of the run chase – as the Saints eventually passed the Bombers score with two overs in hand and six wickets still in the shed.
