DESPITE an early scare with the bat, College bounced back to win Thursday night’s Hamilton and District Cricket Association T20 final against Macarthur at PP1, to win back-to-back T20 titles.

The Eagles were sent to the crease after losing the toss, and were in early trouble at 3-31, with Jonathan Jenkin (16), Charles Murrie (zero) and Matthew Worsnop (zero) back in the pavilion.

Heath Schmidt pushed on at the top of the order, but when Kane Uebergang found Ollie Wortley in the field, the College scorecard looked dicey.

Schmidt and AJ Burn combined to put on 25 runs before the opener was eventually dismissed for 36.

It set off another mini collapse, but Burn continued to push the scoring rate, and combined with Lachie Watt for a ninth-wicket 69-run partnership to see the Eagles to 9-157 after 20 overs.

Burn was the standout with 66-not-out from 38 balls.

Bingham Jarrett was the Demons’ standout bowler with 5-21 from his four overs.

Macarthur’s run chase got off to a rocky start with none of the top four able to reach double figures, as the Demons slumped to 4-18 after being 2-1.

Kyle Smitten offered some resistance in the middle order with 17, while Jarrett’s 13-not-out at number 10 saw Macarthur to 9-71 at stumps to fall well short of the target.

Despite the result, Jarrett’s all-round effort was rewarded with the man of the match award.

Henry Bensch captained the Eagles throughout the T20 games and said there were a few nervous moments early in the contest.

“Early on we were in a lot of strife, four for not much, but lucky we bat pretty deep,” he said.

“Burnsy and Watty got together and got us to 150 which we thought was close to par.

“We thought 160 was probably par, so we still thought we would have to bowl pretty well and knew if we bowled well, we could defend it.”

Matching up against Macarthur in a final was always going to be a tough proposition, but Bensch backed his team to combat the power.

One surprise was being sent to bat first after losing the toss.

“I was a bit surprised, I would have batted first,” he said.

“The ball was doing a bit as the night got darker and conditions changed.”

Getting to captain the team through the T20s was also another learning curve for Bensch, who will also be involved at next month’s Sungold Cup.

“I loved the opportunity to captain, I’ve had it a couple of times in juniors, but to step up into senior ranks as a leader was great,” he said.

“We went down there last year and was found out in one game, so it will be a bit different.

“We will get a side together which is a bit more stable, train together and play the modern T20 style.

“Warrnambool boys are pretty good at that down there, but I do think we can go a step or two further this time around.”