By David Nagel
CARDINIA has reclaimed its title as the Twenty20 champions of the West Gippsland Cricket Association after winning the Kookaburra Cup final in a thriller against Kooweerup at Officer on Sunday.
When Cardinia’s Dwayne Doig cracked Kooweerup’s Shane Dole to the boundary off the second last ball of the final it signalled the end of a long, hot but entertaining days cricket for the large crowd in attendance.
Two semi-finals kicked off the day at 11.00am between Kooweerup and Tooradin and Cardinia and Upper Beaconsfield. Koowee posted a comfortable victory over the Seagulls on the back of 62 from Dole and a marathon 25-run last over effort from Seagulls’ speedster Lukas Hoogenboom, which included three no-balls. It lifted the Demons to a score too far away for the Seagulls.
In the other semi-final, a half century to Mark Cooper and solid knocks from Danny Diwell and Ben Darose helped the Bulls to a score of 5/163 against the Maroons. Shawn Flegler then played a gem of an innings to have his side in the box seat throughout but when he was run-out in the ’80s the game changed complexion.
With 11 runs required off the last over, Doig bowled an amazing over with four wickets coming off the first five balls… for no runs. Two run-outs, a catch and a stumping saw the Bulls get home by eight runs.
The final promised a cracker of a contest between the WGCA’s two best sides and they didn’t disappoint in the slightest. Some early fumbles from the Cardinia fieldsmen and some lusty hitting from Michael Giles had Koowee in best position in the early stages.
Two consecutive sixes by Giles off the bowling of Craig Boswell were evened out when the Bulls’ left-hander cleaned bowled Giles to slow down the run-rate. The Demons kept its foot on the gas however and ended its 20 overs with a formidable 5/181.
Formidable looked nigh on impossible when the Demons removed Cooper (0) for a blob and then danger-man Neil Barfuss early.
The Bulls’ T20 specialist Ben Darose has been the fly-in-the-ointment for many opposition teams since the inception of the shortest version of the game and he once again was the star of the show. His 57 runs mightn’t have come at crunch time right at the end of the innings but certainly kept the Bulls’ hopes alive when all looked lost.
Ryan DeReus and Ricky Campbell kept things ticking over in the middle order but the Bulls always looked like falling short of its target. Steady wickets fell and at 9/160 the Kookaburra Cup looked headed to Denhams Road for the second year running.
It all came down to the last over with 11 runs needed for a Bulls’ victory and one wicket for the Demons. Doig (9 not out) and Travis Welsh (5 not out) held their nerve until Doig’s boundary gave the Bulls a memorable win over its arch rivals.
The Kookaburra Cup win was Cardinia’s third in four years with Darose adding to his big game reputation by taking home Man of the Match honours.
