By Nick Creely
DDCA TWENTY 20 GRAND FINAL
REVIEW
Yet another piece of Twenty20 silverware has been added to the glittering cabinet at Buckley Ridges, with the Bucks dismantling Cranbourne in the Dandenong District decider at Park Oval on Wednesday evening.
A healthy crowd ventured out to see two of the competition’s heavyweights battle it out, and on a track naturally conducive to batting, the Bucks did not hesitate to bat.
The Eagles must have felt in control in the early stages, with Blade Baxter, a pace-man from St Kilda Cricket Club, snaring the wicket of the dangerous Daniel Watson (9).
But then it became the Luke Fletcher (99 not out) show, with the Buckley Ridges’ star Englishman playing one of the great knocks, blasting boundary after boundary, as the crowd ducked for cover.
He even took down Steve Spoljaric (0/55), who was going at an economy rate of 3.5 per over for the entire tournament, and Matt Chasemore (0/45), who has also been brilliantly economic all tournament.
And although Fletcher could not walk off Park Oval with the three-figures, it was sheer brutality and precision at its finest.
Maybe it was an innings waiting to happen, and although it wasn’t as mind-boggling as Daniel Watson’s famous 193 in a Twenty20 only a few years back against Springvale South, it was a freakish innings.
When breaking down the innings, his numbers are unbelievable – it took just 49 deliveries to get to 99, with 10 sixes and four boundaries, with 76 of his runs coming in boundaries.
And there were others who stood tall and brutalized the Eagles’ bowlers – Susantha Pradeep, who has quite arguably been the player of the tournament, calmly knocked around another 44 runs with Fletcher.
Suren Ekanayake (46 not out) then excited the crowd with some lusty hitting in the last eight overs of the innings, as the Bucks reached an imperious 2/213 off their 20 overs.
And if the game was in doubt when Lucas Ligt and Matt Chasemore strode out to bat, it was certainly all over when Chasemore (5) and his skipper Spoljaric (0) fell in consecutive balls, with Watson (4/20) breaking the game open with some stellar bowling.
Watson then picked up Blade Baxter (1) shortly after, leaving the Eagles hanging by a thread at 3/17.
Some resistance was then provided by Ligt (32) and Jake Harrington (23), but when that partnership was eventually broken, it became purely a waiting game for the Bucks.
The Eagles were eventually dismissed for 137 off 19.4 overs.
Apart from Watson, Wes Nicholas (3/19), Matthew Goodwright (2/31) and Lukas Hoogenboom (1/22) were all dangerous.
Buckley Ridges have now extraordinarily got seven Twenty20 premierships against their name, in an incredible decade of white-ball cricket.
Both teams will now turn their attention to the Turf 1 season, where both clubs are well and truly in the running for the premiership.
DDCA Twenty20 Premiers 2016/17
Buckley Ridges
Daniel Watson, 7 matches, 184 runs at 30.7, HS 119, 7 wickets at 16.00, economy 6.3
Susantha Pradeep, 6 matches, 287 runs at 47.8, HS 83, 2 wickets at 12.5, economy 8.3
Luke Fletcher, 7 matches, 228 runs at 45.6, HS 99, 4 wickets at 26.3, economy 5.00
Suren Ekanayake, 6 matches, 110 runs at 22.00, HS 46
Jayson Hobbs, 6 matches, 70 runs at 17.5, HS 29
Troy Aust (capt & wk), 7 matches, 84 runs at 16.8, HS 31
Rajith Jayathunga, 4 matches, 69 runs at 34.5
Matthew Goodwright, 6 matches, 13 runs at 13.00, HS 8, 6 wickets at 22.5, economy 8.4
Hussain Ali, 6 matches, 21 runs, no average, HS 12, 11 wickets at 11.1, economy 6.4
Lukas Hoogenboom, 6 matches, did not bat, 10 wickets at 12.6, economy 6.5
Wes Nicholas, 7 matches, did not bat, 10 wickets at 10.5, economy 5.5
