Young Motors T20 Cup final: Towns emerge on top in thrilling decider against Wanderers

An amazing game of cricket decided the Young Motors T20 Series final at Wonthella on Friday night.

As Towns captain Ringo McKenna said later, all was possible at the death — a win to Towns, a win to Wanderers or the unknown of a super over.

In the end, Towns won off the last ball, but as it was a wide, in reality the second last ball.

There were so many highlights and pleasingly a big crowd to witness it. It was Towns’ fourth Young Motors T20 Cup win.

Wanderers’ Zane Marwick (21 and 3-17) was rightly player of the match, but others shone in a game that ebbed, flowed and thrilled.

Sent in to bat, Wanderers made a great start with Marwick and Clayton Bruce-Cherry putting on 23, which ended when Bruce-Cherry hit Austin Breen hard and flat to McKenna at mid-off.

With 52 on the board, Marwick slapped Sam Crouch (2-14) to the mid-wicket boundary where Dan Brimson held an incredible catch.

Brimson ran hard after the chance, extended a hopeful hand and the ball stuck. He was near the line but threw the ball back to himself in the infield to complete a stunning dismissal.

Then Kade Gillingham was out to a diving catch by McKenna off Tom Forsyth and Henry Anderson (15) perished when Josh DeLacy (2-4) did well to hold a high return catch.

Wanderers made 52 off their first 10 overs but only 38 more in the next 10 with another top catch by Tom Witt, running back from mid-on, contributing. They made 7-90.

Damien King (2-28) conceded 13 runs in Towns’ opening over but did remove Jeremy Bedford.

Bedford, having pulled King for a magnificent six, tried to glide the next ball, also short, to third man only to steer it into Gillingham’s gloves who did well to reel it in.

Darcy Giltrow (18) was solid but Crouch was also held by Gillingham off King and they were 3-43 after Marwick trapped Giltrow in front.

Mitch Thompson (0-7 off four overs) helped lift the required run rate to almost six an over but Kodi Giltrow (30) and McKenna (16) chipped away until Giltrow was stumped off Marwick with the score 4-78.

It was 5-84 after Thompson held a boundary grab that was well struck by Jai Russell off Marwick.

Thompson saw he was going to carry the ball over the line and calmly lobbed the ball back into the field to hold it again.

In the final over bowled by Anderson, Towns needed seven to win and took singles off the first two balls then McKenna was well caught by Thompson.

The next ball was a wide and the batters ran anyway when a run out attempt failed. Towns then needed three runs off three balls.

Brimson scored one next ball but King ran out Breen attempting a second. With two to get off two balls Brimson levelled the scores with a single.

On the last ball Witt was run out by Bruce-Cherry, but it was a wide and Towns had won.