Back-to-back!
Tooradin capped off a dominant T20 campaign by defeating Clyde by seven wickets on the big stage in Sunday’s Premier Kookaburra Cup grand final.
The Cougars chose to take bat in hand following winning the toss in the pristine conditions at Lang Lang Recreation Reserve.
The Seagulls landed the first blow when Clyde opening bat Shamil Samarasinghe (3) tried to cut one away and was caught wonderfully in the deep by a sliding Jack Mannix off the bowling of Brad Butler to have the Cougars 1/13.
Then, spin took over the game.
It started with marquee player Kyle Parrott sending skipper Kane Avard’s (27) stumps flying with a ripper.
Then, Parrott got his second when danger man Matthew Calder (15) was caught in the deep swinging for the fences by Tyler Evans.
Parrott followed this by catching an edge of Ramneet Dhindsa the next ball into the gloves of keeper Ben Parrott.
Despite Trevor Bauer (4) getting run out, Ryan Adams held his composure and was doing all he could for Clyde at the other end.
Adams bashed his way to raising his bat for a half century from 32 deliveries before he became yet another victim of spin, getting a tickle on a Josh Lownds ball through to the keeper.
When Adams was dismissed, the Cougars were 6/116, but could only manage a further 19 runs to round out the innings 9/135.
Ben Parrott was outstanding behind the wicket, showing great reflexes to catch two edges right at the stumps, while also performing an acrobatic run out and displaying great hands with a stumping.
Kyle Parrott was the leading wicket-taker with three for Tooradin.
Kyle then opened the batting with Cal O’Hare, who conservatively combined for 40 runs before Ankush Rana then removed Parrott (23) by knocking over his stumps; followed by Clyde applying some pressure by running out Lownds (1) to have the Seagulls 2/42.
But co-captain Butler came in and settled things down, blasting five fours on his way to 33 before he was knocked over by Dilipkumara Siva.
The match was figuratively and literally slipping out of the Cougars’ hands, with a number of dropped catches and missed run out opportunities at critical points of the innings, ultimately sealing their fate.
There were multiple points where Clyde had the chance to swing the momentum and force a response from Tooradin, but it was not to be.
Tyler Evans (5 not out), the other half of the captaincy, walked out and accompanied O’Hare to the winning margin at 3/139.
O’Hare was the constant all innings for the Seagulls, with seven boundaries (four sixes) on his way to a match-defining 74 not out, earning him Man of the Match honours.
The result marked Tooradin’s second consecutive Premier Kookaburra Cup after knocking off Kooweerup last year.
As for Clyde, it will serve as a valuable learning curve for the Cougars, who are looking to earn a finals berth in Premier cricket this season.
