TYRENDARRA has continued its hot run of form in big games this season, winning the Hamilton and District Cricket Association A grade one day final against Gorae-Portland at Monivae Turf on Sunday.

The Darras have had a big three-week period, including winning the Sungold Cup in Warrnambool, and went into Sunday’s decider as favourites, despite dropping its two-day contest against St Andrew’s on Saturday.

Cam Mather won the toss and elected to bowl first, sending the Go-Ports batsmen to the crease in what was a warm day with little cloud cover.

It was a slow start for the batting side, with Sam Roberts the first to fall for 10 after some sharp work in the field saw him run out with the score on 12.

It brought Zac Duncan to the crease, and he smashed back-to-back boundaries off Sam Wilson to finish the 11th over, as he and Finn Saurine tried to increase the scoring rate.

It was short-lived though, as Lachie Kirk had Saurine dismissed the second ball of the next over for nine off 37 balls to see Go-Ports struggling at 2-30 in the 12th over.

Tyrendarra continued to dominate, as 2-30 turned into 3-30 after Duncan was dismissed after a sharp catch in the cordon to give Darren Killmister his first scalp of the day.

Go-Ports then lost another after Stephen O'Brien played a ball straight onto the stumps to give Kirk his second wicket and Gorae-Portland was in desperate need of a partnership, as the scoreboard showed 4-35 in the 14th over.

Killmister continued to bowl diligent line and lengths through his spell, restricting the scoring and keeping Tyrendarra in firm control.

When Sam Atchison's middle stump got knocked out of the ground by Ben Menzel on the first ball of 26th over, Gorae-Portland was in deep trouble at 9-48 and staring down the barrel of being all out for less than 50.

Drinks were taken after 30 overs, with Tyrendarra knowing only one good ball was required to end the innings, with the first ball after the break all it took, as Mather caught out Zac Stuchbery off Sam Wilson to see Go-Ports all out for 51 in 30.1 overs.

Darren Killmister finished with 4-12 from his nine-over spell, while Kirk grabbed 3-10 from his nine overs, which included six maidens.

Duncan’s knock of 11 was the top score, with Roberts (10) the only other batsman to reach double figures.

Tyrendarra knew the pitch was flat and wasted little time chasing down the runs, as Kirk eased the first ball of the innings off O'Brien through backward point to the boundary in a signal of his intent at the crease.

Despite Mather being 0 from 8 balls, Kirk was ticking it over at the other end with 10 from 12.

Back-to-back boundaries down the ground from Mather off Sam Roberts in the eighth over took the Darras' total to 0-49, before Mather held out to Ryan Gadsden, returning to the pavilion with 24 off 23.

Mather was the only wicket to fall in the chase, and it was fitting that Kirk was the batsman to hit the winning run, on the first ball of the 10th over, to finish unbeaten on 22.

The win helps Tyrendarra become the first Portland-based club to win the one-day final, and Mather said it was a special day for the players.

“It feels fantastic, we have got a great group of guys, and everyone shares the load,” he said.

“If we are going to do deep into finals, this (Monivae) is where we will be playing, so we just want to get as many games here as we can.

“We have played a fair bit of cricket lately, so it was good to come away with the win.

“Our bowling set it up, everyone who rolled the arm over was fantastic and the fielding was good.”

Early wickets proved pivotal, with Mather’s preference to bowl first on the turf ground.

“We always like to bowl here first, if it is going to do something, it will do something straight away and it would flatten out during the day,” he said.

“Go-Ports is a good side, ‘Willsy’ and Stevo, if they get away with the bat, so we focused on getting those early wickets.

“I reckon if they’d posted at least 120, there might have been some doubt, but getting those early boundaries eased the pressure (in the chase).”

Killmister was named man of the match for his pivotal spell of bowling and Mather said his influence was vital to the result.

“Darren was probably a bit down on himself after (Saturday), but you can always depend on him with the ball,” he said.

Killmister said he was just glad to play a role in the win.

“I was just doing my part and lucky enough to grab a few wickets along the way,” he said.

“We have been building on these things, we had a few boxes we wanted to tick at the start of the year and so far, we have done them.

“We didn’t want to just be a one-day side, or a two-day side or anything, and we wanted to be competitive across the board.

“We might go and have a few beers tonight, but we aren’t going to get too far ahead of ourselves, we still have a big few weeks ahead of us – we are aiming for the two-day one, that is the main one.”