By Marcus Uhe
Berwick has claimed a second Dandenong District Cricket Association T20 tournament in three seasons after prevailing over Cranbourne by seven wickets in Sunday’s final at Shepley Oval.
The Bears set up the win in the first innings with an excellent bowling performance, highlighted by 7/16 for finger spinner Lachlan Brown, in which they restricted Cranbourne to 131.
With the pressure of a major chase extinguished, Berwick cruised to victory, with a Michael Wallace cut shot through backward point in the final over of the innings sealing the result.
Matthew Hague topscored in the chase with 41 and Jarryd Wills added an unbeaten 31 to steer their side home.
Earlier in the contest, Toby Wills’ excellent new-ball spell removed Cranbourne opener Harrison Carlyon in the first over and Anthony Galley in the fifth.
Brown picked up where Wills left off, and within three deliveries he had the dangerous Harsaroup Singh pinned in front.
He removed Ketan Bakshi in his next, before returning later in the innings to break a dangerous stand between Julius Sumerauer and Hayden Lamb.
After falling to 4/39, the pair had added 64 for the fifth wicket and were beginning to find their groove with a series of boundaries in the prevailing overs.
Sumerauer met Brown’s return to the bowling crease with a six on the first ball of the 16th over but held his nerve and had Lamb caught on the long straight boundary by Hague for 25 in a major turning point of the contest.
Marquee Ruwantha Kellapotha bowled Sumerauer for 48 to begin the 18th over as Cranbourne showed signs of desperation in a final thrust.
Brown, however, returned to bowl the final over and executed to near-perfection for his side.
Wickets on the first three balls gave him a hattrick, and a fourth of the over on the fifth ball wrapped up the innings without allowing a dangerous flourish from the tail.
It proved vital in the finish, as the heat, compounded with a long day in the field on Saturday, saw energy levels and intensity dip as the game worked its way to its conclusion late in the afternoon.
Needing little more than a run per ball from its 20 overs, Berwick was content to run hard between the wickets for much of the chase and punctuate its progress with an occasional boundary.
Cranbourne found success in bowling spin and taking pace off the ball, with Singh, Carlyon and Baskhi each taking one wicket each, but the Eagles simply did not have the required runs on the board to defend.
Berwick was the best team from start to finish in the tournament, finishing as the only side without a loss, the first to book its spot in the quarter-final round after winning its first two group games, and defeating three Turf 1 sides in the preliminary rounds, in Buckley Ridges, Springvale South and Hallam Kalora Park.
The win came at a cost, however, with veteran batter Hancock suffering a hamstring injury late in the chase against Cranbourne, forced to retire hurt.
Hancock has battled soft tissue injuries on multiple occasions in the last 18 months and will be as crucial as any player in the Bears side to their contention for a Turf 1 premiership in the coming weeks.
James Trodd, meanwhile, sat out of the final citing discomfort in his achilles, with Kellapotha taking his place in the 11.
He was unable to complete the fourth over of his spell in the semi final.
The Bears crushed Hallam Kalora Park in the first semi final in the morning, with the bowling attack once more setting up a simple chase.
Having chosen to bowl, the Bears ripped through the explosive Hallam Kalora Park batting line up that was averaging 222 across its previous three T20 contests.
The wickets of Damith Perera, Jordan Hammond, Matthew Calder and Mahela Udawatte for single figure scores gutted the Hawks who were reduced to 5/24 in the seventh over.
Veterans Matthew Cox and Leigh Booth were forced to pick up the pieces with a 31-run stand before Cox and Lauchlan Gregson added 36 for the seventh wicket.
Hallam Kalora Park reached 7/101 from its 20 overs, with Trodd and Elliot Mathews each taking two wickets.
It made an excellent start to its defence by removing Matthew Hague for a third-ball duck, but Berwick’s victory was never in doubt.
Jarryd Wills (37) and Jake Hancock (34) ensured there were no further causes for concern in the chase, however, reaching the target in the 17th over.
Next door on Wilson Oval, Cranbourne needed all 120 deliveries to reign in Dandenong West’s first innings total of 7/139.
A scurried leg bye run by Tim Fathers and Dean McDonnell put the finishing touches on a dramatic contest in which Cranbourne prevailed by a single wicket.
The contest was a seesawing affair, with the Eagles vindicating their bold choice to bowl first with a handful of early wickets.
The Bulls fell to 4/24 at the end of the seventh over when Nathan Power was run out by Hayden Lamb and required rescueing from its leadership duo of Riley Siwes and Anthony Brannan.
They ran hard between the wickets and stemmed the bleeding with a 32-run stand before Brannan edged a catch to Lamb behind the stumps off Fathers.
Siwes was joined by the man who has saved the Bulls with the bat on multiple occasions throughout the tournament in Nuwan Kulasekara and the two began finding the boundary with more success than any of their previous teammates.
They added 82 in eight overs to close the innings, with some sensational striking that provided a target for their bowlers to defend.
Kulasekara finished with 45 from 23 balls and Siwes 46 from 42.
Cranbourne lost its openers in Carlyon and Singh within seven deliveries of one-another but steadied with a 54-run partnership from Bakshi and Galley for the third wicket.
That pair reached 2/75 before both departed with the score unchanged to the leg spin duo of Siwes and Shaun Weir.
When Siwes had Lamb caught by Weir at the end of the 11th over after a quick-fire 19, the game was alive.
Cranbourne was in a better position, needing 41 off the last 54 deliveries, but was beginning to run low on recognised batters.
When Siwes picked up his third, removing Sumerauer for just 10 early in the 13th, the Bulls edged ahead in the contest, and with Siwes consistently rotating his bowlers, there were few opportunities for the Cranbourne batters to establish a foothold.
Dandenong West grabbed a seventh wicket to end the 17th over and the eighth two balls later when Siwes threw down the stumps from cover to send Alex Hollingsworth on his way at 8/124.
McDonnell and Justin Dickinson took proceedings to the final over, which began with Cranbourne needing three runs, and the Bulls two wickets, with Kulasekara handed the ball.
Dickinson picked up a single on the first ball of the over but was run out on the third, having edged too far from the non-striker’s end while backing up and not returning in time after a McDonnell straight drive.
McDonnell attempted a ramp off the fourth ball but failed, leaving two runs required from the final two.
They ran a desperate single on the second-last ball and survived a near run-out from Venuk Hemachandra screaming in from point, and got the vital final run on a leg bye from the final delivery to advance to the final.
Anthony Galley’s 32 top scored for Cranbourne while Siwes finished with 3/23 and a run out to go with his 46 from the first innings in a tremendous all-round display.
