Mount Gambier’s Super Sunday of cricket got off to a hot start as Penola and East Gambier faced off in the Globe Hotel Big Bash semi final at Frew Park with the winner securing a spot in the grand final against West Gambier.
Second placed Penola got the first taste of the pitch, after winning the toss and electing to bat.
Despite losing their top batsman Jack Mullan for a golden duck, Penola stayed strong in the top half of the innings, with Michael McGurk setting the tone with a 20 run innings.
Penola continued to build on their run total with James Alexander, who crafted a well put together innings, making 42 off 48.
The runs kept coming for Penola as Tom Moyle-Read left his mark on the game, putting 30 runs on the board.
As the third placed Doggies continued to chip away at the Eagles’ batting order Penola began to slow down as Michael Waters made 10 while Bredon Smart contributed with 13.
After 20 overs Penola finished with a respectable score of 137.
Early in East’s batting innings the Doggies openers provided a bit of a challenge for their opponents as they worked together to make a serious dent in the run total.
Ben Hentschke had a great innings, making 31 off 21 while his partner Alex Hill was just as dangerous, facing 30 balls and making 28 runs.
East continued to chase down Penola’s total as Emerson Marks made 12 while Jake Wight had a big innings with 31.
The Doggies continued to push and East sealed the win as Dion Stratford finished strong with 16 not out.
Grand Final
After a hard fought semi final the stage was set for West Gambier to take on East Gambier in the grand final.
After a short break from the previous game the Doggies were sent back into bat after the Roos won the toss and elected to bowl first.
The Doggies took their momentum from the last match into their innings as Alex Hill and Ben Hentschke again combined for a solid performance. This time Hill made 26 while Hentschke contributed 31.
The bulk of the runs came from captain Emerson Marks who had a massive innings, finishing just one run shy of a half century.
At the back end of the innings Jake Wight was able to get a small run boost with 13.
With 20 overs in the books the Doggies finished on 131.
The Roos did not get off to the best of starts as opener Nuwan Gunawardana lost his wicket early, finishing on four.
His fellow opener and captain Justin de Jong was able to put a few runs on the board as he finished with 13.
Similar to de Jong, Jayden Prior dug in to get his side closer to winning as he made 17.
However it started to go downhill for the Roos after a two from Jake Blackwell and a single from Sam Hunt, West were beginning to run out of time.
In the back end of the innings Sam Willis was able to contribute several more runs as he added 13.
West got one final push from Jack Geddes who made 28 but it was too late as the Roos finished on 104 runs at the end of the 20
overs.
The win gave East Gambier back to back premierships in the T20 competition.
East Gambier’s Alex Hentschke had a stand out innings with the ball, taking four wickets while Ben Hentschke claimed three.
East Gambier captain Emerson Marks said it was a great feeling winning back to back titles.
“It’s pretty sweet, it was good last year but to do it all again is very privileged and the boys showed their best cricket today,” he said.
Marks said it was team effort to hold West to 104 runs.
“Just mixing it up a bit, one bowler did not stay on for their full four, we sort of mixed it around a bit and all the bowlers used their variations well,” he
said.
“And when the fielding is top tier as it was today it helps the bowlers and their confidence to keep bowling.”
Marks thought that both openers had great games.
“Alex Hill coming out on fire, Ben Hentschke opening and as well with the ball too, he loves a grand final and seems to always gets wickets here and makes runs here as well,” he said.
“Then there was also Alex Hentschke, he’s always going to be bowling and putting his best foot forward and he’s a hard man to get away.”