North Sportsman’s sealed its Dycer Constructions Big Bash finals berth, but was forced to achieve it in much harder circumstances than expected.
Everyone turned up to Marist Park last Thursday night for the final round of the T20 minor-round season expecting the Tigers to tame Gambier Central with extreme ease.
However, the orange army brought a fighting spirit to its swansong to the season and gave the yellow and black an almighty scare.
For the first time in the competition, Centrals won the toss and sent the opposition in and seized on the opportunity.
The North openers were restricted to just seven runs from the first two overs and Chris Leek was rewarded with the huge wicket of Jake Schutz.
It soon became apparent scoring was tough on the Marist Park pitch after a rainy build up as the Tigers did not find the rope until an Elliott Fisher maximum on the 23rd ball.
He and Brad Robinson were grafting out a stand until the latter fell to Centrals skipper Hayden Sanders.
The breakthrough sparked some nerves in the North dressing room as the visitors pressure proved too much.
Jason Ross was having a fine day with the ball removing Mitch Lewis, Fisher and Kayne Badman as wickets fell in quick succession.
At the other end Tigers’ captain Declan Kenny tried to lift the innings out of second gear finding the boundary rope regularly in his 28-ball 38.
However, when he fell to his opposite number, North was in grave danger of being restricted to an under-par total at 7/81 with only 3.3 overs left in the innings.
Centrals’ tight bowling had paid dividends as the Tigers could not break free all innings, but tail-enders Harry Fisher and Nicholas Mark showed some character.
The duo batted out the remainder of the innings and were able to manipulate the field to push the Tigers to 7/109 and add some respectability to the score.
The eighth-wicket stand was a critical shift in the mental battle of the game as it gave the Tigers’ attack something to bowl to and they delivered.
The Centrals openers were given no freebies and could not find the boundary until the 22nd ball of the innings.
It proved to be a false dawn as Robinson removed Jarryd Burston and Jarrod Sanders in the same over before Elliott Fisher chipped in with the big wicket of Josh Thompson.
It was the making of Robinson’s unplayable spell which only conceded five runs from four overs and was a sign of things to come.
Gambier Centrals could not build any momentum through its innings with only 27 runs being made at the halfway mark.
Captain Hayden Sanders showed some grit to reach 21, but when he fell during a mini collapse, the writing was on the wall.
Centrals needed more than 10 runs an over during the death, but only found the boundary twice as it spluttered to 7/73 from its 20 overs.
All the credit had to go to the relentless lines of the Tigers attack which was fronted by Robinson, Kenny and Elliott Fisher.
The win gives North another shot at finals, while Centrals turns its focus to B Grade.
