Turning up on what would become the day of Dave, the Tigers knew a win would take them into the semis. Having given Weston Creek a touch up in the two-dayer the boys were confident of keeping Weston Creek at the bottom of the ladder.
After Dave ‘won’ the toss, Matt B and Phil opened the batting. The openers soon realised they were in for a battle, as the Weston Creek openers brought the heat. Having been dropped from 2nd grade, the Weston Creek opening bowler knocked over both openers and Carl at number 3.
It was then up to Dave and Lachie to get the innings back on track. Having seen off the strong opening spells, the partnership flourished due to the lack of depth in the Creek attack.
Grover joined Dave at the crease when Lachie fell trying to lift the run rate. At 4/90 with just over 20 overs to go, the Tigers had recovered from a poor start. The experienced heads built the total smartly. As the Tigers were on track to a nice total, Dave and Grover fell in quick succession. Dave finally breaking through for a half century after a run of scores between 30 and 50.
It was left to the lower order to drag the toal over the 200 mark. Getting through the 50 overs the Tigers set Weston Creek a total of 205 to win.
A lack of consistence with the ball has plagued the team in recent games, giving up over 50 wides in the previous two games. The inconsistency again found its way into the bowling. While the bowlers were not at their best, they were good enough to take wickets at regular intervals.
As Weston Creek were starting to settle into their innings, Dave brought himself on to tie down an end, not only keeping the runs down, he picked up two vital wickets, to put the Tigers right on top.
As the run rate required steadily rose to a run-a-ball, Phil Cox was able to take two wickets to all but seal the win. Shae then came on to bowl at the death and picked up two wickets for himself.
While the result was clinical, the preformance, still hasn’t reached the standard set by the boys earlier in the season. Heading into the finals the Tigers will be keen to put in a strong team effort, with everyone contributing.
