COLLEGE has won its third Hamilton and District Cricket Association T20 title in four years after successfully chasing down Pigeon Ponds’ 161 runs at Kennedy Oval West on Thursday night.

AJ Burn won the toss and the Eagles sent Ponds to the crease first, with Simon Close blasting his team to a strong start at the top of the order.

Close was the hero of the innings, carrying his bat to an unbeaten 85, guiding the team to 5-161, as Harry Austin picked up two wickets for the Eagles.

The College run chase got off to a rocky start, losing Charles Murrie for eight, while Jack Austin kept the score ticking over at the other end.

It wasn’t until Burn got into the middle that the Eagles got motoring, as Burn found boundaries when required to put plenty of pressure back onto the Ponds bowlers.

Jenkin batted in great support, piling on more than 30 runs through the middle order, as Burn guided his team to a strong run chase and a five-wicket win to ensure the Eagles progress to the Sungold Cup in Warrnambool yet again.

Burn, who was named Man of the Match, said the game was good experience for the younger players.

“The young blokes coming through, I think we had four or five under-18 in the team tonight,” Burn said.

“A few boys were unavailable and they’re getting older as well, so it was a good experience for them and it was good they stepped up which was good, especially with the ball.

“We were probably in trouble early on, they got away to a flyer then we crawled back in the middle overs and finished off pretty well with the ball, we did well to hold them to 161 in the end, considering we were looking at nearly 200 at one point.”

The run chase had some nervous moments, but Burn backed his team to do what was required.

“Losing Jack and Muzz early always hurts, but it does show we bat deep, it was good for Jenks to back through those 15 or 16 overs,”

“I don’t normally try and hit too many big ones, I was just waiting for some short ones and full ones, a smallish ground helps as well.”