General News
29 January, 2020
Mortlake claims T20 crown
MORTLAKE Cricket Club’s status as one of the best country cricket clubs in south west Victoria reached a new level on Sunday.
MORTLAKE Cricket Club’s status as one of the best country cricket clubs in south west Victoria reached a new level on Sunday.
The Cats, who have a trophy cabinet full of recent achievements, added a second Sungold Cup to their coffers at Allansford’s Uebergang Oval.
They defeated Colac and District Cricket Association outfit City United, pocketing the $15,000 first prize in the process.
Victorious skipper Tyler Schafer said the club was ecstatic with their victory, which backed up their 2018 triumph in the eight association tournament.
“It’s good putting the town on the sporting map I guess, especially with cricket,” he said.
“It’s a good competition to get your name out there and we did it the best way by winning the whole thing.
“It’s one of the best feelings ticking off one of the goals I set out for us to do.
“I said at the start of the year that we wanted to win and now we’ve done it which is great.”
The Cats completed a clean sweep of the tournament with a 17 run win over City in the final after they had earlier defeated Panmure and Dennington.
They elected to bat first after winning the toss, posting a total of 5/142 from their 20 overs.
Brad Parson (53), Todd Lamont (33 not out) and Schafer (26) helped Mortlake to a competitive target, with the Cats then dismissing City for 125 in the final over.
The Colac-based side was well placed at 3/86 with 56 needed off 50 balls before a collapse saw them fall to 7/91.
They eventually recovered to be 7/121, needing just 22 off 16 balls for victory before the Cats made a final surge to claim the last three wickets for just four runs.
Todd Robertson (2/17) and Lamont (2/28) led the bowling attack, while Clinton Baker (1/15), Jack Lehmann (1/21) and Kyle McDonald (1/22) each took a wicket.
“I was pretty happy to win the toss and bat because there was no life in the pitch,” Schafer said.
“It was just a road, there was no sideways movement or anything, you just had to play the line.
“They bowled really tightly at the start, I think we were 1/32 off eight overs and then Brad just came out and made it look easy.
“But the turning point for us was the first run out in our fielding innings. We had three of them but the first one revved the boys up and gave them that drive and belief that we could win it.”
Schafer said the win would make Mortlake an attractive destination for prospective new players and families.
He said the family vibe around the club was on show on Sunday with about 50 people from the township venturing to Allansford to watch the Cats in action throughout the final day of play.
Schafer said the players were thrilled with the support.
“It was good to see all the support behind us, we were doing it for the town,” he said.