T20 Challenge - Burt Upsets Wright on Turf, Khera Blasts 85 for Dunstan to Claim Synthetic Honours

Wright Shield won the toss and elected to bat on their usual turf surface, but quickly found themselves on the back foot against a determined Burt Shield side. Harry Douglas (2/19) picked up two very quick wickets to have Wright reeling at 2/15. Boundaries were sparce as they tried to prevent wickets falling, and Daniel McEniry took advantage of this with 2/6 off 3 overs! Muditha Fernando (18 from 18) had a solid start going but was dismissed by Bipanpreet Singh (2/15) who also claimed 2 wickets. But the big story of the innings was the trouble running between wickets (An extra challenge posed by this game, by batting with new partners) as they lost 3 wickets to run outs. Burt Shield walked off very happy, restricting Wright to 99 runs.
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Photo: Harry Douglas set the tone early for Burt Shield, picking up 2 quick wickets, including this edge to Angus Hamilton. © Michael Mirabella

Given Burt Shield's dominant bowling display they had the opportunity to go o defensive, needing just 5 runs an over for victory. But Wright Shield weren't aiming to limit the runs, they wanted wickets. Christopher Barr (1/9 off 3) and Oscar Sargeant (2/8 off 2) proved this, as they had Burt at 3/27 and were a chance to turn this game around. But Bipanpreet Singh (31 from 41) and Angus Hamilton (30* from 26) switched gears for Burt, and their 52 run partnership made the rest of the innings just a formality, as they cruised to a 6 wicket victory.

Angus Hamilton hits the winning runs for Burt Shield, marking the first synthetic victory since the competition started. Photo © Chris Mirabella 2023

Macgibbon Shield won the toss and may have regretted their choice to send Dunstan in to bat with Rahul Khera opening the batting. Along with Glen Iris' Lachy Holmes (26), the pair managed a 79 run opening partnership as part of a hitting onslaught with Khera hitting 85 from 60 balls that included six 4s and five 6s. His innings came to an end after a running mix up with fellow Old Carey teammate, Josh Devine (35* from 21 balls) led to a run out. Devine was joined by his Old Carey captain, Daniel Clarke (22* from 10 balls) and the pair closed out the innings with some big hitting (Five 6s between them) leading Dunstan to an imposing 3/190 from their 20 overs. With runs free flowing, Trinity Willison's Tom Clarke was tidy with ball, taking 1/18 from his 3 overs, including breaking the opening wicket partnership.

Photo: Rahul Khera taking a liking to the synthetic conditions. © Chris Mirabella

The beginning of the second innings was much more patient, with John Graves (17 from 19 balls) and Michael Jenkin (30 from 41 balls) both making starts before Graves was trapped in front LBW by Xavier Batemen (1/14). Then the Old Carey bowling attack was brought on, with the reliable Tad Merry (3/35) claiming the crucial wicket of Michael Sparks on just his second ball. The run rate kept creeping up for the Macgibbon side, and just as Daniel Harford hit a few big shots, he was dismissed by Jack Quartermain (1/23) and even Josh Devine (Who was enjoying a rare break from the gloves) picked up a wicket!
At 4/76 with not enough overs left and the game starting to peter out, enter Deepdene Uniting's Dan Harrison. Harrison came in hitting the ball sweetly from the word go, turning Devine's 1/1 from 4 balls to 1/11 from 6, he then continued to hit the ball to all parts of the oval and raised an impresisve 51 from only 18 balls, including five 6s and three 4s. But unfortunately despite some more late hitting from the lower order time was too much of a factor, and Macgibbon finished their innings just 14 runs short.

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Photo: Dan Harrison even pulling out the reverse sweep for another boundary. © Michael Mirabella