T20 finals day at Manuka Oval had everything on Sunday: tight schedules, surprise results, rain delays and DLS in the second Men’s semi-final, and thrilling finishes, as Eastlake got one back on Western Districts from last year’s Final in the Women's comp and Tuggeranong claimed a second straight 1st Grade title.
Women’s Grade Competition T20 Final: Eastlake defeated Western District by 38 runs
The Glenda Hall Shield was set up to be an intriguing contest with Western Districts going into the final high on confidence after dominant 55-run victory over ANU in the semi-final, while Eastlake clinched their way into the final after a victory in the second-last over of their semi against Ginninderra.
Eastlake skipper, Carli Eaton won the toss and elected to bat first, with openers Shazia Zazai (10) and Elizabeth Edwards (27) laying an early foundation for Eastlake, before they were both run out by some sharp fielding from Madeline Hollis and Mia Phelps.
No.3 Claire Murray (30) continued where the openers left off, smacking four boundaries across Manuka Oval’s pristine surface. However, the introduction of Wests seamer Alessia Montefiore-Gardner halted Murray’s run spree with a false shot straight to Annabelle Harrison at deep-square leg. Georgia Bye (10) and Eaton (11) then regrouped and combined nicely at the backend of Eastlake’s innings to push their final total to 118.
In response, Western District slumped to 4-18 after five overs as opening bowler Georgia Bye tore through their top order, including three key scalps in her first over. Montefiore-Gardner (21) and Phelps (13) looked to mount a comeback, but Wests middle and lower order couldn’t stick with the mounting run-rate, bowled out for 80 in the end, and with Bye taking two more wickets in the 20th over, to finish with figures of 5-12 from her four overs.
Although Eastlake walked away from Manuka convincing victors and with the Glenda Hall Shield in hand, Western District will be looking redemption in the one-day format, as the Women’s Grade competition now heads into the final stretch of the one-day competition.
1st Grade T20 Final: Tuggeranong defeated Queanbeyan by 4 runs
After victories in their semi-finals over Weston Creek Molonglo and North Canberra Gungahlin respectively, Tuggeranong were looking to go back-to-back premiers in the T20 competition, while Queanbeyan were the white ball double after defeating WCM in the one-day final two weeks back.
Batting first, Tuggeranong found themselves in a bit of trouble early on, with dangerous openers Craig Devoy and Vusi Sibanda back in the sheds within the first three overs.
However, off the back of their ACT Comets debuts earlier in the week, Akshay Joseph and Tyler Hays fought back nicely to keep the Valley in the game. Hays, in particular, took to the Queanbeyan attack with four massive sixes, all clearing the Manuka Oval fence by a distance.
Queanbeyan duo Tyler Van Luin and Zac Beveridge struck, removing Joseph (38) and Hays (54) respectively to mount some pressure back on the reigning champions, but Tuggeranong’s middle order finished strongly, with Shane Devoy (19*), Matt Rogers (11) and Zac Maron (11) all chipping to take their final total to 148.
Queanbeyan openers gave their vocal supporters some early entertainment with Mark Higgs and Esam Rahman setting the tone with some clean hitting across all parts of Manuka. Ryan McCaughan clean bowled Higgs (20), but Rahman continued his great late season form to bring up another half century off 45 balls in the 14th over.
As Queanbeyan began to take control, Tuggeranong skipper Craig Devoy claimed back-to-back wickets, bowling of Tyler Van Luin (20) through the gate and then removing the dangerous Nic Broes with a caught and bowled. It was then up to Rahman and Dean Solway to recover, combining well to take the game into the last over.
The tension was building amongst the crowd of almost 600 at Manuka, with Queanbeyan needing 16 runs off the last over, and Janith Samaratunga tasked with the last over for Tuggeranong.
Rahman looked like getting Queanbeyan over the line after an audacious reverse sweep for a boundary early in the over, but Samaratunga who kept his cool and conceded just two runs off his final two balls to retain the Greg Chappell Cricket Centre Twenty20 Blast title for Tuggeranong.
1st Grade Round 20 two-day match summaries after Day 1:
- Queanbeyan defeated North Canberra Gungahlin outright by 10 wickets (Esam Rahman 56, Tyler Van Luin 5-21, Zac Beveridge 4-13 & 4-38) – incredibly, this is just the fifth time in ACT Cricket’s 101-year history a two-day 1st Grade match has been won outright on Day 1.
- Ginninderra declared for 5/329 against Eastlake at Kippax (Owen Chivers 161*, Nicolas Allen 68; Lucas Louis 2-15). Eastlake are 1/10 at stumps (Jake Monie 7*, Andrew Palm 3*).
- ANU bowled Tuggeranong out for 197 at Chisholm (Lewis Evans 53*, Akshay Joseph 42; Jake Smith 5-63), and are 4/86 in reply (Felix Bennet 43*, Lachlan Simpson 15*; Daniel Oshyer 2-32).
- Western District bowled Weston Creek Molonglo out for 387 at Stirling (Harry Medhurst 65*, Zak Keogh 55; Seth McFarlane 3-69).
Women’s Grade Competition Round 13 one-day matches:
- Shnigdha Duggirala and Lucy McKelvie-Hill both took three wickets for Ginninderra, as the Tigers rolled Tuggeranong for 89 in 25.2 overs, McKelvie-Hill then finishing 46* from just 23 balls to secure the six-wicket win.
- 55 from Marissa Eldridge guided Eastlake to 9/150 from their 40 overs against Queanbeyan, with Ella and Suzanne Rebus taking three wickets apiece. Eastlake then had seven different wicket-takers as they kept nine Queanbeyan batters to single figures, bowling them out for 98 to win by 52.
- An unbeaten 74 from Genevieve Montefiore-Gardner helped Western District reach 9/193 from their 40 overs against ANU. They then turned around at bowled the Students out for 101, with Mia Phelps and Brieanna Dillon taking three wickets each in the 92-run win.
One-day ladder ahead of this weekend’s final round: Eastlake 20, Western District 16, Queanbeyan 12, ANU 12, Ginninderra 8, Tuggeranong 4, Weston Creek Molonglo 0.
Lower Grade Standouts:
- ANU 2nd Grade skipper, Nicholas Richardson stood tall for his side at ANU North scoring 112 of 119 balls, to put his side in a dominant position heading into day two.
- Guy Randell was the chief destroyer with his tweakers, finishing with figures of 4-32 off 17.1 overs as Queanbeyan bowled North Canberra Gungahlin out for 96 in 2nd Grade.
- In 3rd Grade, Krish Joshi from Tuggeranong elevated his side out of trouble with a patient 91 off 151, to put them in a strong position against ANU, reaching 9/298.
- Archie Selmes was immense with ball in hand for Western Districts 4th Grade, taking 7-37 from 13.5 overs to help bowl out Weston Creek Molonglo for 144.
Article by UC Sports Media student Oliver Nguyen
Images courtesy Maun Luke Photography