By Jonty Ralphsmith
Berwick are premiers!
In a season that has yielded just two First XI wins so far, the Bears went undefeated through their five T20 games on the way to lifting the trophy.
The Bears eased past Turf 3 clubs Silverton and Lynbrook in the round-robin stage, before another straightforward victory over Springvale in the quarterfinals.
It was much trickier in the semi final and final, both played at Shepley Oval on Sunday, but they stood up in the pressure moments.
Matt Chasemore was the hero in the final against powerhouse Buckley Ridges with 55 off 35 in an innings where all his teammates went at just better than a run a ball.
After putting 5/161 on the board, Berwick looked home when it consigned Buckley’s top-order to 6/66.
But a calm Matthew Goodwright found the middle of the blade easily late in the innings, delivering 45 crucial runs to have Buckley needing 20 off the final over with two wickets in hand for a comeback win.
It was again on the experienced Chasemore to stand up with his medium pacers after conceding 25 runs in his first three overs.
He bowled to his field which saw Goodwright hole out on the first ball of the over, effectively ending Berwick’s hopes, before a run-out three balls later put a decisive full stop on the contest.
Playing North Dandenong in the semi earlier, Berwick looked scratchy at 6/79 in the 14th over before a quickfire Lachlan Brown cameo helped the club post 9/141.
The total required Berwick to take consistent wickets and that’s what it delivered, inflicting a collapse of 7/43 to have the Maroons 8/98 after a reasonable start from North Dandenong.
But it got down to the final over as Alamdar Raza pierced the field and guided the chase expertly in a knock of 31 which contained four boundaries to keep the game in the balance.
Bowling the final over, Berwick’s Harkinwal Singh held his nerve defending nine runs, conceding singles off the first three balls of the over before a nervy Raza ran himself out, feeling the scoreboard pinch.
Buckley Ridges’ semi was much easier, DJ Watson making light work of Doveton’s 3/152 on the small Wilson Oval.
The skipper pulled Stuart Johnson for four on the first ball of the 11th over to bring up triple figures as his team eased to victory.
The unbeaten 100 came off just 34 balls and contained 10 maximums, play briefly halted on several occasions as he targeted the straight boundary, repeatedly sending the ball to the banks of Dandenong Creek.
At one stage, the scorebook read 0/68, with Watson having scored 65 of the runs as partner Mahela Udawatte was starved of the strike.
But Udawatte eventually got into the action too, clobbering seven sixes in a knock of 54 off 22 balls, including an over where he took Doves’ skipper Nanga Wilson’s left-arm spinners for 28.
The Doves got away to a promising start, the opening pair of Mitch Daley and Simon Mackie putting on 52, but they didn’t connect with as many as they would have hoped, nor did they rotate the strike frequently enough.
After a mid-innings stutter, marquee player Dale Tormey launched some lusty blows late but the total always looked well under-par even with Doveton’s unorthodox bowling lineup.
While it was a disappointing end for Doveton, the Turf 2 club beat Parkmore and Springvale South in an impressive run to the semis, just three seasons after the Doves were languishing in Turf 4.
