NORTH Albury may be the amateur twenty20 champions of Victoria, but Tallangatta yesterday became the premier team from Cricket Albury- Wodonga, downing the Hoppers in a classic final at Lavington Panthers Oval.
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On Sunday, the Hoppers secured a $10,000 booty for winning the Jata Rolling Shield, but the CAW powerhouse fell three runs short of victory in last night’s thrilling decider.
Bushies skipper Andrew Lade was handed the responsibility of delivering the final over with 11 runs to play with, and the match went right down to the last ball, with Ben Joos unable to hit the required boundary that would have delivered another trophy to Bunton Park.
An ecstatic Lade said the title meant a lot to his club, especially beating such a powerful opponent.
“It was a great game of cricket, both teams backed themselves and it was one of those games that you could never say you were in front, going down to the last ball,” he said.
“We don’t have much silverware in our cabinet ... the two-day stuff is probably a bit more important, but it’s a trophy that we can put in our cabinet, so we’re really pleased to win it.
“Simmo (Brendan Simmons) batted well and North Albury are a great side ... but it was really great to win tonight.”
Tallangatta earlier won the toss and batted but when big guns Lade (0), Steve Wood (15) and Matt Armstrong (3) were sent on their way before the half-way mark, the Bushies appeared to be in serious trouble.
But the unheralded Fraser Bremner led a Bushies fightback, smashing a hard-hitting 44, with Jack Wood adding an invaluable 36 to propel Tallangatta to 7-148.
Steve Wood then claimed the early scalp of Dave Farrell for 4, before Dave Castello and Rod Barton (both 24) steadied the Hoppers’ ship.
North Albury was always slightly behind the run-rate, with Tallangatta bowlers Wood, Lade, Ben Dower and Armstrong all proving hard to get away and as the pressure mounted, the Hoppers lost key wickets and looked out of the contest until Simmons (19 not out) and Greg Daniel (23) staged a late recovery mission as the match reached its epic conclusion.
Lade said he was proud of the efforts of team that was able to secure the silverware without any of the usual suspects such as Lade himself, Wood or Armstrong dominating.
“We talked about not leaving it to one bloke and living for the moment, and the boys did that brilliantly,” he said.
“Everyone was so positive today and it was a great result ... we knew if we all put in 110 per cent, we’d go close.”
A dejected Daniel paid tribute to Tallangatta after the narrow loss.
“Full credit to Tallangatta, they took their chances and it went their way,” he said.
“I thought our fielding wasn’t great and they probably got away from us a bit, but it was a great effort by us to make 145 under pressure.
“Unfortunately it didn’t go our way at the end.”
Bremner was named man of the match for his impressive innings, which featured six fours and one six.
Earlier, Lavington proved too strong for Belvoir in the B-grade final.
