By Tara Murray
Epping, Lalor Stars, Research Eltham Collegians and Heidelberg are the final four in the Northern Region T20 competition.
The four Diamond Valley Cricket Association sides won their semi finals on Tuesday night to win through to next week’s preliminary finals.
Epping, who will face Research Eltham Collegians for a spot in the grand final, won through to the preliminary finals with a big win against Riverside.
Batting first, the Pingers made 8-148 with guest player Sunam Gautam top scoring with 50. Skipper Anthony Licovski chipped in with 42 at the top of the order.
Riverside’s innings never really got going after being in trouble at 3-21. They were bowled out for 119 in the second last over.
Gautam and Robert Tinsley took three wickets apiece for the Pingers.
The lowest ranked team left in the competition, Research Eltham Collegians won through to the final four with victory against Bundoora.
The Collegians play two divisions lower than Bundoora in the normal Saturday competition.
The Bulls made 8-132 from their overs, which the Collegians reached with 13 balls and six wickets in hand.
They finished 4-133 with Shannon Malone making 79.
Lalor Stars will host Heidelberg in the other preliminary final.
Looking to make it to a second straight grand final, the Stars defeated Banyule on Tuesday in a thriller.
Banyule was bowled out for 122, with Mitchell Hayse and Jamie Scott taking two wickets each for the Stars.
The match went down to the second last ball, after the Stars looked in trouble at 6-53.
The Stars though continued to fight and were able to hit the winning runs with a ball remaining.
The Stars finishing 8-123.
Nicholas Horman and David Worthington top scored for the Stars with 27 apiece.
Standing between the Stars and another grand final is Heidelberg, which beat Lower Eltham in the semi finals.
Heidelberg smashed a massive 5-214 off its 20 overs.
While Lower Eltham started positively, the total was always too much as it was bowled out for 142.
