TYRENDARRA’S summer of cricket reached new heights on Friday, with the Darras taking out victory in the Sungold Cup Twenty20 final over South Gambier by six wickets in dramatic fashion at Allansford Recreation Reserve.

The victory sees the club not only take out a tournament which includes domestic clubs from Portland, Hamilton, Warrnambool, Mount Gambier, Colac, and South West cricket associations, but has also won the club $15,000 in prize money to go towards making improvements at the club.

The Darras’ day got started early in the morning, as they faced Dennington in the semi-final for the competition at 9.30am, with Tyrendarra skipper Cam Mather winning the toss and electing to send their opponents in to bat.

Tyrendarra didn’t get the ideal start with the ball, as Shannon Beks and Stuart Brown helped Dennington to a reasonable position, however when Jake Wilson was able to clean up Beks the Darras were able to shift the momentum drastically.

Three wickets to Darren Killmister and a run out plus a wicket to Dylan Murray helped ensure Dennington couldn’t get a run on, with the Darras left to chase 116 for victory.

And while there were a handful of good performances from the Darras’ batsmen on their way to the win, it was Jordi Withers who once again took control of the contest, making 56 off just 45 balls with seven boundaries.

It proved crucial to his side’s chances as they made the runs with just three balls to spare, as no other Darras batsman scored more than 11.

Mather said after the game that the decision to bowl after winning the toss was a departure from their usual strategy which ultimately paid off.

“We’d noticed in their other matches that their best scores came when they were chasing… usually I like to bat first and get runs on the board for some scoreboard pressure, but I liked the idea of getting into their middle order,” he said.

“We didn’t bowl our best with a few loose balls that got punished, but in the final 15 overs of their innings we were really able to restrict the run rate and that proved pretty key.

“Jordi was pretty instrumental for us, really just let the others bat around him, he’s great at finding the singles and punishing the bad balls.

“It ended up being a closer game than we probably would have liked to be honest, we were fortunate in the end that we did the hard work early.”

The final

Mather once again won the toss in the final and once again he elected to bowl first, and while South Gambier’s openers got them off to a decent start – with Stephen Easterbrook, who previously played in the Portland cricket competition, clubbing a pair of sixes early – soon the Darras found their mojo with some wickets beginning to fall.

David Somerfield’s 49 not out held South Gambier’s innings together, as Sam Wilson stepped up to take three wickets at the other end, while Jake Wilson also pitched in with a scalp.

Eventually, South Gambier finished up on 7-108, a score the Darras would have felt was more than gettable.

Lachie Kirk (48) made a huge contribution to the run chase at the top of the order, as him and Mather (29 off 29) combined for a 71-run opening partnership.

However, the game was far from over at this stage, as Robert Drenthen broke the opening partnership before Easterbrook stepped up to claim Withers for just two.

Shortly after, the Darras were on 4-90 and the game could have gone either way.

It was at this point that the eventual man of the match Sam Wilson stepped up, belting two fours and a six on his way to 18 not out off just seven balls, with Killmister out there with him as the Darras got the winning runs with 10 balls to spare.

“It was a pretty phenomenal feeling to win, we’ve had our sights set on breaking through in this competition after stumbling in the earlier rounds in the past, so it was special to get all the way this time,” Mather said.

“Our bowling attack has really done a great job across the competition… we kind of went away from our quickest bowlers and tried to take the pace off with guys like (Killmister) and (Mark Pitt) and even ‘Sammy’ and Jake Wilson.

“I think our bowling and fielding was excellent across the competition, and probably helped out when we had a pretty lean run with the bat other than Jordi.

“At the same time, it was good to see a couple of others step up with the bat in the final, Lachie made a huge contribution at the top of the order and then Sam was able finish the job.”

Sam Wilson said it was “really special” for the group to take out the honours.

“It’s been our goal for a while to get this far in the tournament, we’ve had a couple goes at it but this is the first time we have gotten over the line,” he said.

“A lot of credit has to go to Jordi, he’s just a class above, but it was good that in the final we could show we weren’t reliant on him too much.

“Lachie has the potential to play to the standard that he did in the final and it’s a credit to him.

“On a personal level it was good to be out there with ‘Killy’ (Killmister) until the end and help the team get over the line.”

In terms of the club’s plans with their prize money for winning the competition, Mather said they have a couple goals in mind.

“We want to look at getting a junior program at the club, that’s going to be needed if we want to the club to be carried forwards into the future,” he said.

“Other than that, a fresh net set-up over there would be great, it’s getting a bit outdated and could be refreshed.”