A BLISTERING start with the bat by captain Ben Gunn combined with a man-of-the-match performance from marquee player Tom Smyth has helped lead Bendigo United to its first BDCA Twenty20 title.
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In front of an “enthusiastic” crowd that made plenty of noise from the QEO grandstand on a cold night, the Redbacks defeated Kangaroo Flat by 42 runs in Wednesday’s final.
Twenty20 has been a format the Redbacks haven’t traditionally excelled at, with their record in the previous eight seasons 14-19-1.
But the decision to pick close to their best side this season rather than focus on the format as a chance to blood young players paid dividends with Wednesday’s win, which never looked in doubt after the Redbacks posted 7-167 batting first and then tied the Roos down early in their run-chase.
The Redbacks made the most of the invitation to bat first by the Roos, with opener Gunn at his brilliant best in an 18-ball blitz of 42 that featured six boundaries and two sixes.
The score was already 52 off just four overs when Gunn was superbly caught and bowled by Dylan Gibson (1-42).
The next ball of the game Clayton Holmes copped a dreaded diamond duck when Smyth played a Liam Jones (0-28) delivery to gully.
Adam Burns fielded the ball and with a direct hit ran out the dangerous Holmes without facing a ball.
And when Mark Di Fede (1) was trapped lbw by Burns (2-22) soon after, in the space of eight balls the Redbacks had lost 3-2 to fall to 3-54.
However, Smyth (44 off 25), Leigh McDermott (27 off 25) and Harry Donegan (30 off 23) ensured Bendigo United would have plenty of runs to defend, which it did comfortably as the Roos were all out in the 19th over for 125 in reply.
Jake Klemm (59 off 41) continued his fine post-Christmas form for the Roos to be the mainstay of their innings after coming in during the fourth over with the score 1-13.
Klemm’s innings included a six off Holmes that landed in the swimming pool.
Daniel Barber (19 off 10) and Gibson (10 off 11) were the only other players to make double figures for the Roos, who were behind the eight-ball from the outset when they scored just 17 runs off their first five overs, compared to United’s 54.
Spinner Smyth backed up his 44 with the bat with 4-8 off 3.3 overs to earn man of the match honours.
Gunn wouldn’t have been far behind with 1-14, a catch and a run out to go with his 42, while Holmes finished with 2-19 off four overs after having earlier had just eight scored off his first three overs.
Donegan had a good night behind the stumps with three stumpings and a catch.
Kangaroo Flat – which is now 0-2 in Twenty20 finals having also lost to Strathdale in 2012 – lost its last six wickets for just 11 runs.