Time for final six

By Jarrod Potter
THEN there were six.
Upper Beaconsfield and Cardinia won their way through to the final four of the West Gippsland Cricket Association’s Twenty20 Kookaburra Cup, with wins over Cranbourne Meadows and Pakenham Upper-Toomuc respectively.
Cranbourne Meadows won the toss, chose to bat and made steady progress before a sinister last few overs from Upper Beaconsfield removed the Rebels momentum. When Brent Murdoch was dismissed on 47, as he tried to up the run rate unsuccessfully against Maroons’ quickman Jayden Joyce, Cranbourne Meadows slumped with the last four wickets falling for two runs.
They were dismissed on the last ball of the innings, setting the chasing total for Upper Beaconsfield at 118. John Simpson took 2/10 for Upper Beaconsfield.
The Maroons chase went pear-shaped at the beginning, falling to 3/18 when Julian Bayard (23) and Tommy Tyrell (50) came together to steady the ship. Bayard was dismissed at 4/57 and Paul Atkins (4) at 5/80 and once more Upper Beaconsfield were in danger of not reaching the total.
Tyrell set aside all concern, reaching his half century before getting dismissed at 6/111. The tail accrued the final eight runs required to send Upper Beaconsfield into the semi-finals.
Cardinia’s 9/170cc was too much for Pakenham Upper-Toomuc to attain, with the best of the visitors, Ben Darose (39) and Mark Andalfotto (37).
The first five batsmen all went past 20 for the Bulls and in the end, the Yabbies were unable to match it. (No results for Pakenham Upper-Toomuc available). The last two quarter finals will be played on Tuesday, with the remaining hope for District cricket Devon Meadows taking on last year’s champions Kooweerup at Cranbourne Racecourse Reserve and Beaconsfield squaring off Tooradin at Perc Allison Oval. The semi-finals and final are scheduled for 29 January after the Christmas break.