Buckley Ridges secured the DDCA Twenty20 title last week, but was denied a chance to strut its stuff on the MCG on Sunday.
By Gavin Staindl
BUCKLEY Ridges has been robbed of its first chance to win the Victorian Twenty20 club championships at the MCG when rain forced the cancellation of Sunday’s grand final.
After losing last year’s final at the ‘G, Buckley was confident of going one better this year but the heavy rainfall prevented the game from going ahead.
Ridges vice-president Chris Rattle said his side was “absolutely gutted” about missing one more chance to play on the MCG.
But Buckley did confirm its status as king of the Twenty20s claiming a fourth consecutive Dandenong and District Cricket Association Twenty20 title last Wednesday.
The Ridges were crowned the 2010-11 champions after beating Berwick by 27 runs in the final of the DDCA Twenty20 competition at Arch Brown Reserve.
Berwick’s Ryan Crawford took three wickets and notched up a half-century in a man-of-the match performance but his side never looked like chasing down the required 137 runs needed to win.
Winning the toss, Buckley captain Daniel Watson backed his batsmen to get the bulk of the work done.
Watson’s faith was rewarded as first drop Luck Fletcher (36) and second drop Suren Ekanayake (22) posted solid scores.
By the time Fletcher was finally removed, Buckley was 4/108 and setting itself for fireworks.
With eight overs left and the big-hitting Watson (19) at the crease, a score of 160-plus was in sight but Buckley’s momentum began to fizzle when it lost quick wickets. Berwick’s Cam McDonnell (2/16) and Ryan Crawford (3/24) evened the contest late in the innings and left Buckley’s total of 9/136 vulnerable to the in-form Berwick bats.
But when Col Tucker was run out for a diamond duck off the first ball of the innings and Brad Francis found himself back in the sheds a few balls later, the well-rounded Berwick batting line-up appeared in tatters.
At 3/9, Crawford (52) did his best to provide a batting display on his own but therein was the problem for Berwick.
Crawford carved a lone figure at the crease and despite his half-century, Berwick could only muster a score of 9/109.
Berwick won the inaugural DDCA Twenty20 championship in 2006/07 but since that time Buckley Ridges has taken home four straight championships.
