Tara Murray
There were a few nervous moments for Epping in the Northern Region T20 grand final, but the Pingers did enough to come away with the title.
The Pingers faced Rivergum in the grand final with the two sides having had some hard fought battles in recent years, including a tie in the pool matches this season.
The Kookas were restricted to just 7-89 on Tuesday from their overs with Josh Henkel and Billy McKeown taking two wickets each.
At 1-59 the Pingers looked on track to take home the title. The wickets started to fall and the nerves set in, with the Pingers slipping to 7-89.
Then a shout for LBW presented a few nervous moments, but a no ball was called to give the Pingers the win.
The Pingers finished 7-90 with more than four overs remaining.
Pingers coach Daniel Bramich said there were a few nervous moments.
“It was a tight tense game which we didn’t believe it would be [after batting], but it got a bit close,” he said.
“They’re a strong club and last year we lost chasing 91 and this year we tied, it was one of those games.
“We got out cheaply and we thought we would get them pretty easily. Once again Rivergum is a good side and pushed us to the end.
“They’re always in the game, it was a good feeling to get one over them.
Bramich, who has won a number of premierships with Rivergum, said it was good to get one over the old mob.
He said knowing the side helped with planning and trying to restrict the Kookas with the bat.
“We wanted to restrict them to only scoring singles or twos, not boundaries every over,” he said.
“They’ve got the likes of Matt Perri, Jarrod Bannister and Corey Altis ”
For the coach, the final overs was nerves.
“There was still one batter before I was in,” he said. “We lost a wicket and I was scrambling as I didn’t have the bats on.
“Our batter got hit on the bats but it was a new ball and it finished the game. I’m sort of glad I didn’t come in, in the end.”
There was no man of the match awarded, but Bramich highlighted the bowling performance of McKeown and then the batting performance of Zac Graham.
“Zac set the innings up with the bat and held the innings together,” he said. ‘He’s 19 and in his first year at the club. He took it away from them in the early parts.”
While pleased to have taken out the T20 title, the work is just beginning for the Pingers.
The Pingers sit second in the Diamond Valley Cricket Association Barclay Shield competition.
After falling short last year, Bramich is hoping this win can hold them in good stead.
“Winning a final is good,” he said.
“As the boys spoke last night [Tuesday] we want to take winning form into the Saturday stuff and hopefully get into another grand final.
“Last year we batted into a hole and we rushed the game a little bit. T20 there is still pressure all the time.
“The maturity levels from the players that were playing showed they had more time. They didn’t panic.”
