Game 3
Hutt River Dedication 8/154 def. by Mildura West 4/156
Hutt River made their way across to the Mildura West home ground to take on the Westie Toads for the second Twenty20 of day 2. Hearing rumours of the ferocity of the Dedication bowling attack, West recruited a cup grade batsman to bolster their B-grade team. For first time this tournament, the batsman dared to play an attacking shot against Hutt River's extremely aggressive first-ball field, hitting Kale McBain to the cover boundary.
Unfortunately, Hutt River's fielding effort this game was a step below what had been seen in previous games, with cup grade opening batsman Tom Holmes dropped twice on his way to an unbeaten 87. Many other mistakes in the field, along with two sixes in the dying overs against Geoff Pascoe let West make their way to 156 from their 20 overs.
After their successful run chase in the morning, Dedication were hopeful of getting another win. Joel McMahon and Adam Burke put together a solid 44 run 2nd wicket partnership, before Burke was dismissed for 20. This brought the in form Jake Sluiter to the crease. Both Sluiter and McMahon looked in fine touch, until Sluiter called a suicidal single, resulting in McMahon's dismissal. When Sluiter was dismissed for 24, things were looking shaky, and two more quick wickets had the Dedication fans' hearts in their throats. Tyler Hankinson, however, gave a remarkable impression of a batsman, and combined with Jarryd Mills to run far more singles than should have been humanly possible.
With two overs to go, Hutt River dared to hope for a victory, but Tyler Hankinson celebrated a little early, giving a jump and a fist pump on hitting the last ball of the penultimate boundary for four. Dedication needed 11 runs from the last over for a tie, and some cheeky running by Hankinson and Joel Thomas brought that down to needing three runs off the final delivery. Unfortunately, Thomas could only manage a single off the final ball, resulting in a crushing two run loss.
Unfortunately, Hutt River's fielding effort this game was a step below what had been seen in previous games, with cup grade opening batsman Tom Holmes dropped twice on his way to an unbeaten 87. Many other mistakes in the field, along with two sixes in the dying overs against Geoff Pascoe let West make their way to 156 from their 20 overs.
After their successful run chase in the morning, Dedication were hopeful of getting another win. Joel McMahon and Adam Burke put together a solid 44 run 2nd wicket partnership, before Burke was dismissed for 20. This brought the in form Jake Sluiter to the crease. Both Sluiter and McMahon looked in fine touch, until Sluiter called a suicidal single, resulting in McMahon's dismissal. When Sluiter was dismissed for 24, things were looking shaky, and two more quick wickets had the Dedication fans' hearts in their throats. Tyler Hankinson, however, gave a remarkable impression of a batsman, and combined with Jarryd Mills to run far more singles than should have been humanly possible.
With two overs to go, Hutt River dared to hope for a victory, but Tyler Hankinson celebrated a little early, giving a jump and a fist pump on hitting the last ball of the penultimate boundary for four. Dedication needed 11 runs from the last over for a tie, and some cheeky running by Hankinson and Joel Thomas brought that down to needing three runs off the final delivery. Unfortunately, Thomas could only manage a single off the final ball, resulting in a crushing two run loss.