The Margaret River Chicken Treat Big Bash is going into it's last round this week with finals on the horizon. The final four has been settled but the positions that they finish have not been. The top two teams get a double chance come finals time, the Willow Warriors and the Finbats are battling it out for 2nd position. The Warriors take on top dogs Madness and Finnies take on bottom placed Bashers. There’s also the chance of Bush Choox sliding past both teams into 2nd position if it goes their way.
Game 49: Tuesdays game was the Bush Choox 4th v Master Batters 6th with two teams that have many many years of friendships between them. The Master Batters went into bat first and were in a good place with a run rate of 8.0 after the power play to have 2/40. Runs flowed nicely in the second quarter with 49 runs coming but they lost 3 more wickets and were 5/89 at half time. Nick Mac was in great touch hitting 32 retired from 20 balls.
The third quarter was MBs best as they posted another 54 runs without loss to be 5/143 and heading for a big total. Joel's 27 retired from 18 balls and Jarvo 20 in 14 balls were good contributors in the middle order. The Choox pulled the run rate right back to 8.55 in the final quarter restricting MB to only add 28 runs as they lost another 3 wickets. MBs final total was 8/171. Cody Rodgers the best of the Choox bowlers with 2/14. The boys from fowl-house corner were in big trouble at quarter time with a total of 3/36. The middle order got going as they put on 49 runs in the second quarter to be 3/85 at half time and back on target. C.J and Cody retired with strike rates up around 200. The Choox added another 46 in the third quarter and left themselves with 41 runs from 30 balls, Scooter belted 28 ret' in 16 balls and Jake hit three 6s and two 4s in his innings of 28 from 17 balls. The winning runs came on the 4th ball of the 19th over and the Choox secured their spot in the finals. They added another 9 runs to take a 10 run victory with a final total of 6/181. Joycey traded his keeping gloves for the ball and took 2 wickets for MB proving his all round cricketing ability.
Game 50: Wednesday night was the Bashers taking on the Sons of Pitches. SOPs season was one of much improvement on last year. They batted first and the Bashers were good in the field for the power play restricting the run flow to 1/38. Then the runs flowed at a rapid pace with 56 coming from the next 30 ball and the score was 3/94 at half time. Jordy's form continued with 25 runs from 11 balls and Kavi's 26 from 16 was aslo handy. Another 50 came in the third quarter and SOP were 5/144 and looking at posting their highest team total for the season. The final quarter was the biggest of any team this season with 84 runs being added to the total and the highest team score posted in the league for the 2018 season, 7/228. Holmsey's innings was the highest score ever posted in M/R Big Bash history, he smashed six 6s and eight 4s on his way to an unbeaten 84 runs in just 31 balls. SOP Captain Nolan put on a handy 22 from 14 balls.The Bashers Mark Sheith took the amazing bowling figures of 3 wickets for 7 runs in an inning which saw a batting run rate of 11.40 runs per over.
The Bashers needed to bat out of their skin to chase this massive total down. They started steadily with 0/37 at quarter time but needed to be 57 to keep on track. The second quarter saw 23 runs added and the half time score was 0/60. The Bashers were now 60 behind the run rate. Sheithy pulled off a great double for the Bashers retiring on 25 from 20 balls and Gary also retired with 26. The third quarter was their best as they added 40 runs for the loss of 4 wickets to push the total to 4/100 at 3/4 time. The Bashers finished on 5/133 and took a 95 run hiding. Nolan and Holmsey both took 2 wickets each, SOP took enough percentage out of the game to take back 6th position from Master Batters.
Game 51: Thursdays clash was Madness 1st v Big Show 5th. The Big Show needed a win to keep their finals chances alive. Madness batted first and a 9 run net to Callum off the final ball of the first over saw them off to a flying start. The power play was a belter with 0/56 on the board. Callum retired on 32 runs from 14 balls. The second quarter was even better for the Mad Men as they knocked up another 61 runs but lost 5 wickets in doing so to be 5/117 at half time. Wickets fell steadily but the total was still a healthy 8/154 at 3/4 time. Breac hit a quick 23 before Pizey caught him.The final lot of five overs only saw 23 runs added as the last wicket fell on the second ball of the 20th over to leave a total of 10/175. God was good behind the stumps contributing to 4 wickets with catches and a stumping. The Big Show need to score at 8.76 runs per over for a victory. The power play was a good for BS as they reached 2/52 after 5 overs to be well ahead of the run rate. Mr Stewart retired in 18 balls to help his teams cause. The second quarter was not so good with only 34 runs and went into half time at 3/86. Another 38 came in the third quarter for the loss of two more wickets and the score was 5/124. BS was in need of 52 runs from the final 30 balls. God was in heaven smackin 25 runs from 10 balls. A whopping 14 runs came from the 18th but the 19th over saw just 4 singles added as the Mad Men fielded brilliantly. BS needed 14 from the final over and that proved to be too much. Foxy and Luke both bowled well with 1/10 each. Madness grabbed a 5 run victory to cement their double chance.
Game 52: Friday night’s clash was Willow Warriors 2nd v Finbats 4th. On a day that meant so much to both teams fighting for the double chance in the finals. The Finbats batted first and were in heaps of trouble at 4/43 after the power play. The second lot of 5 overs netted 47 runs but the loss of another two wickets had the Finbats 6 down for 90 at half time. Gibbon retired with three 6s and two 4s in just 11 balls and Tractor was swinging at everything. The third quarter was slower but was also a chance to reconcile with no wicket and but another 33 runs and the team was in a position to launch an assault in the final quarter. The Bats captain and the two retired batsmen returned to the crease and took to everything scoring 70 runs off 30 balls. The total was 193 for 9 down in one of the great recovery stories of the season, Tractor ended up with 52 not out from 34 balls. The Warriors got off to a flying start with 2/56 at the end of the power play and were well ahead of the run rate with Garstty retired in just 10 balls. The second quarter was wicketless and another 45 runs added with another two retirees in Zac and Ozzy, they were 2/101 at half time and still ahead of the run rate. The third quarter belonged to the Finbats, they took 5 wickets for just 21 runs and the Warriors were 7/122 at 3/4 time. The final quarter saw Garsty dominate to finish with 68 from 24 balls but when his wicket fell so did the Warriors. The final wicket fell on the first ball of the 19th over after 43 runs added in just 19 balls and the Warriors were all out for 165, 29 runs short.
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Margaret River Mail
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