Nirav Steals Double Wicket Win with Last Ball 6

Nirav Patel blasted a huge 6 off the last ball in the Double Wicket Final yesterday to deliver himself and partner Matt Richards the title.

The rain held off for the good turnout at Plateau Park. 1sts, 2nds, 3rds and the Development Team were all represented amongst the 16 Players (8 Teams). An orange ball was in play and a host of special rules were used, including 4 over innings, -5 for losing a wicket (and you keep batting), double runs for a reverse shot boundary, legside wides and no ball free hits.

In the first round, there was a Development Team battle as Ethan Elliott and Jeff Porter-Denning narrowly defeated Noah Gammage and Cam Baber 26-25. Nirav Patel and Matt Richards smashed their way past 2nd Grade combo Brodie Elliott and Hugh Brassil 41-31. Tom Carden and Rob Minnett recovered from a slow start to defeat David Le and Harry Dunn 35-23. And Ryan Dunn and Nick Armstrong survived some impressive hitting from James Price to defeat Rob Steel and him 33-30.

In the semi finals, Cam Baber replaced Jeff as Ethan’s partner since Jeff had to depart for a scheduled manicure. They put 28 on the board but were then thrashed by some power hitting by Nirav and Brick who reached 50 for the only time in the comp. It included 4 sixes to Nirav and 1 to Brick. Then, some frequent wicket taking from the TC-Minnett combo restricted Dunny and Army in their chase as they were beaten 37-23.

Minnett and TC elected to bat first in the grand final. After another slow start, TC fed Minnett the strike for some late boundary hitting to salvage a competitive 35. Nirav and Brick’s innings was a roller coaster as TC was once again amongst the wickets. However, Nirav kept finding 6’s and got the equation down to 6 off the last 4 balls. With Minnett bowling, Nirav refused to take the runs on offer for the next 3 balls, eventually leaving himself 6 to win off the last. In an incredible finish, Nirav walked down the pitch as Minnett delivered and proceeded to cream his sweetest hit of the day, straight down the ground and well over the radio tower enclosure to steal the victory. The final score was 36-35.

Big thanks to Mossy for umpiring throughout the day and to everyone who joined in and/or helped out. It was a very enjoyable day with some excellent (… and also some not so excellent!) cricket on display.

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Leading Run Scorers (Not including runs lost to wickets)

Wicket Takers