Hurley’s Hotel Hounds have gone down to Sporties Spitfires in a see-sawing Goulburn Valley Bush Bash League grand final.
The Hounds lost the match by three wickets, but were courageous in defeat after the game went down to the final over.
Earlier in the day it looked as if the Spitfires would waltz to victory in their debut season, but a spirited fightback led by Hounds bowlers Michael Archer (2-17 from four overs) and Anthony McMahon (2-13 from four) helped make the match an even contest.
“We were struggling at the start of our bowling innings and for them to get us back in the fight and Arch (Archer) probably got us ahead, is a real credit to both,” Hounds captain Matthew Hinks said.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Hounds found themselves in a spot of bother at 7-76 in the 12th over.
From there it was effectively a Kobyn James rescue mission as he managed to guide his side through the last eight overs to get the Hounds to a competitive total of 122.
“I was really impressed with the way Kobyn batted at the end there for us, he got us to a defendable total,” Hinks said.
“We had a bit of a collapse there through the middle and Kobyn and I started to get us back on track.
“I got out in a pretty soft way and it took our score that we were looking at from 140 back down to 120, which, on a ground like Rochy, wasn’t quite enough in the end.”
However, the match seemed to be heading one way after the Spitfires started their innings with a bang, scoring 37 runs across the first four overs.
It wasn’t until league’s leading wicket-taker, Archer, came on that the Hounds took their first wicket and began to claw their way back into the match.
From there, the Hounds began to hunt as a pack, with a steady stream of wickets falling across the next 10 overs to leave the Spitfires on 7-78, needing 35 runs from 34 balls for the win.
The situation looked particularly dire for the Spitfires at that stage after they had lost former Big Bash League batter (Renegades and Stars) James Seymour for 25 runs.
But, while it all seemed to be slipping away for the Spitfires, Kayle Thompson produced a match-winning performance with the bat as he struck 42 not out from 29 balls (two fours and three sixes) to help the Bendigo side win with five balls to spare.
“To be honest, we were really confident when we had them seven down, and then Thompson just took the game away from us,” said Hinks.
The Hounds were looking to claim back-to-back GVBBL titles but fell just a few runs short of retaining their championship.
“We thought we had a really good side going into it, but we probably didn’t get enough runs in the end, I think we were 15 or 20 short and it probably showed,” concluded Hinks.
This was the fourth edition of the competition with the Spitfires joining the Hounds and SRP Mud Dogs (x2) as premiers of the competition.