GORAE-PORTLAND are the champions of the Portland and District Cricket Association’s Twenty20 Tournament for the 2021-22 season after emerging undefeated Sunday afternoon.

Speaking after an exciting grand final victory over Tyrendarra on Sunday, Go-Ports all-rounder James Roberts said it was a weekend to remember for the team.

“As a team we really felt positive about our chances in the Twenty20 tournament,” he said.

“We introduced a lot of younger blokes to the team for the weekend, Thomma Roberts, Harvey Reynolds, Kaden Wilson all lined up across Saturday and Sunday.

“We also had Cam Gleeson back playing with us and that sort of young line-up felt promising because those sorts of younger, emerging players are really active and lively in the field and with the bat and that suits the fast, Twenty20 pace of the game.”

Saturday

Go-Ports kicked things off on Saturday morning with a round one contest against South Portland on the hard wicket at Alexandra Park.

Go-Ports got the win in that encounter after rolling South Portland for 78 runs in 19 overs, with Nick Wills taking 5-11 before returning to the pitch with the bat and producing an unbeaten 37.

Wills’ 37 came from just 25 deliveries and featured five fours and one six, with his team reaching the required total at 3-79 in 13 overs.

Go-Ports second contest was overly in a flash, recording a nine-wicket victory over Drumborg-Heywood at Alexandra Park in the second round.

Drumborg-Heywood won the toss and batted first but were knocked over for just 47 runs with young all-rounder Kaden Wilson running rampant, collecting 4-4.

Go-Ports belted the required runs in just 33 deliveries, with Stephen O’Brien (9), Jordan Edmonds (24) and Cam Gleeson (7) combining to get the job done with little fuss.

• That second win qualified Go-Ports for Sunday’s grand final and while those wins were being recorded at Alexandra Park, Tyrendarra was busy recording victories over their own.

In round one Tyrendarra was on the ropes early against Portland Tigers but managed to bounce back via Lachie Kirk and Dylan Murray.

Tigers won the toss and posted a first innings total of 115, which Tyrendarra with five wickets in hand and nine balls to spare.

Lachie Kirk took 4-14 with the ball and carried his bat in the run chase, finishing unbeaten on 38 runs from 51 balls.

Kirk’s partner in a pivotal match winning pairing was Dylan Murray, recording 37 runs from 23 balls with two fours and two sixes.

Tyrendarra faced Portland Colts on the second round and pulled off a 24-run victory.

Tyrendarra won the toss and batted first, setting a total of 7-121 with Ben Menzel top scoring with 49 runs from 48 balls.

Colts’ struggled right across the run chase outside of Sam McDonald (23 runs) and captain Luke Evans (32), finishing unbeaten at 7-97 after 20 overs, and earning Tyrendarra qualification for the grand final.

Sunday

Go-Ports won the toss ahead of Sunday’s Twenty20 grand final on the hard wicket at Alexandra Park and elected to bat first.

After a warm and sunny Saturday, rain hampered Sunday’s play considerably and as a result of lost time, the contest was reduced to 12 overs per team.

Go-Ports were led for the second time in the tournament by Nick Wills, opening the batting and belting an unbeaten 549 runs from 36 balls, hitting five fours and one six.

Stephen O’Brien (15) and Andre Wallace (retired on 14) enjoyed cameo performances as Go-Ports posted a first innings total of 1-95.

Tyrendarra then returned to the pitch for a run chase that was hindered by persistent wickets, finishing the 12 overs unbeaten at 8-76, 19 runs short of a victory.

Ben Menzel (20 from 15), Cam Mather (18 from 11) and Hamish Withers (13 from 14) all enjoyed starts but were unable to extend their scores as the run rate quickly pressure ramped up.

Stephen O’Brien was the best of the bowlers with 2-10, while Kaden Wilson (2-15) and Sam Atchison (2-15) were both positive contributors.

Go-Ports’ Roberts said the bursts of wet weather had an interesting impact on the contest.

“We really didn’t have much time to prepare prior to the umpires’ decision to reduce the length of the contest,” he said.

“We weren’t sure if we were going to just have to reschedule the match, play out until later, or what, and then we found out that it would be 12-overs per team and we had to start scrambling to make the adjustments.

“We decided to open our batting with Willsy (Nick Wills) and Stevo (Stephen O’Brien) because they’re probably our two most in-form scoring bats, and that move paid off.

“If you were to reward a player of the weekend it would have to be Willsy I think, he was just unreal with the bat, scoring quickly and turning over the strike perfectly.

“It’s not enough to just be scoring boundaries in these Twenty20s, you’ve got to keep searching for singles constantly to keep that score ticking over and Willsy is excellent at exactly that.

“We thought that score of 95 was a great total considering the limited number of overs and then we bowled really well to keep Tyrendarra under that total.

“We knew that the batting line-up they have has quite a few batsmen capable of pulling off a run chase like that quickly, and in the end we had to bowl really well to keep them from doing that.

“It was a really busy couple of days but everyone has had a lot of fun and hopefully we have some news soon on when and where we’re playing in January.”

• As a result of Sunday’s victory, Gorae-Portland has qualified for the 2022 Sungold Twenty20 Cup, hosted in Warrnambool.

Club teams from eight local cricket associations will battle it out in January for prize money in Warrnambool.