Last Tuesday, Kilsyth Cricket Club played Warranwood at Quambee Reserve Main Oval in Round Four of the RDCA T20 Tournament.
It was the second match within a week for these two teams who also played in a two-day match in the Wilkins Cup competition. Warranwood won the toss and elected to bat. The Sharks got off to a flying start before the first wicket fell on 23 after 2.4 overs. Charlie Moore was the batsman out for a quick fire 20 off 13 balls, after skying an attempted big hit to mid-on and was well caught by Tim Asbury off the bowling of Isuru Umesh.
The score then raced to 1/66 off six overs and Warranwood looked like posting a huge score. Then Joshua Thomas was bowled by Sagar Ahir for 13 off 10 balls at the end of the seventh over and the Sharks were now 2/71.
From there, Kilsyth managed to put a brake on the scoring through good bowling and after 13 overs, Warranwood were 2/96. Opener Xavier Farrell was the third wicket to fall for a brisk 52 off 39 balls (six fours and two sixes), caught by Tim Asbury who took another skied catch off Isuru Umesh’s first ball of a new spell. Warranwood were now 3/96 after 13.1 overs. It was soon 4/104 off 14.2 overs when Nathan Lingwood was caught behind by Will Beard off the bowling of Andy Solomons for 11 off 21 balls.
Neale Brown was then well caught by Andy Solomons at long off from the bowling of Dylan Smith for 17 off 12 balls, and the score was now 5/119 after 17 overs. In the next over, Andy Solomons picked up two more wickets on 119, (caught and bowled, and bowled), and Kilsyth had gained the ascendancy. Then, on the last ball of the innings, Will Beard took his second catch behind the stumps with Isuru Umesh claiming his third wicket and Warranwood finished on 8/132cc off their allotted 20 overs. For Kilsyth, opening bowler Isuru Umesh captured 3/22, Andy Solomons 3/21 and Dylan Smith 1/25 (all off four overs each), whilst spinner Pasan Ganegoda bowled economically and without luck to finish with 0/15 off his four overs. In the field, Andy Solomons, Tim Asbury and wicket keeper Will Beard all took two catches each.
Kilsyth set about the run chase positively, with 21 runs coming off the first two overs. In the third over, Luke Ivanovic was the first wicket to fall, well caught by Mitchell Caspersz off the bowling of Cody Marshall for 14 off 11 balls. This brought Andy Solomons to the crease and after playing two dot balls, he proceeded to hit the next two balls for consecutive sixes.
From there, the momentum continued with Solomons bringing up his 50 from 18 deliveries (six fours and four sixes). His partnership with Jack Childs was a classic and Kilsyth equalled Warranwood’s score of 132 in 9.4 overs.
Then, unexpectedly, Solomons was bowled by Ayden Robinson when the ball nicked the bail. Solomons had played a brilliant innings of 76 off 29 balls (six fours, eight sixes and four singles). In the next over, Jack Childs scored the winning run to be 29 not out off 24 balls, and his second wicket partnership with Andy Solomons had yielded 110 runs in 7.3 overs. The wicket takers for Warranwood were Cody Marshall 1/17 off two overs, and Ayden Robinson 1/29 off three overs.
