“Gutted”: Rovers United Bruck fall at the final hurdle

Cricket can be a cruel game, moreso than other sports, dashing hopes without a second thought if a team is a fraction of a percentage point off. Rovers United Bruck were the latest in a long line of teams who have felt cricket’s sting, succumbing to a six-wicket hammering by Benalla Bushrangers, ending their chances of making finals after a strong T20 campaign. The Bushrangers chased the Hawks’ 6/150 with eight balls and six wickets remaining at the Gardens Oval on Saturday. “Pretty flat, we’re pretty disappointed - I’d go as far as saying the boys are pretty gutted,” skipper Jeremy Wilson said. “It’s just one of those things, we just didn’t bowl or field well enough. “The batting was solid again, but we didn’t generate enough chances, we didn’t field well. “We got shown up, in these T20s that’s what can happen – if you’re five per cent off, anyone can beat anyone.” After winning the toss and batting, the Hawks lost their first wicket with only one run on the board, before Charith Perera (47 from 28) and Ryan Collier (27 from 36) piled on 68 runs to establish a workable foothold in the game. Jacob Schonafinger (21 from 16), Reid McNamara (18 from 16) and Jeremy Wilson (21 from 11) all chipped in to post a very competitive total. “We got off to a really good start, we kept our dot balls to a minimum and were able to turn the strike over a bit,” Wilson said. “We probably lacked some boundary-hitting at times, but 150 was what we wanted, we got it, so we can’t really complain about the batting, that’s for sure.” While the job was done with the bat, the team needed to perform with the ball, and that’s where cracks started to form. Schonafinger removed the dangerous Brayden Stepien for five in the third over, thanks to a sharp caught and bowled chance which may have been more about self-preservation, but the Bushrangers had another trick up their sleeve. Opener Jonty Priest was joined at the crease by Vishal Sharma, who would crack a half century off 19 balls to take the game away from RUB. Sharma piled on the runs rapidly with a display of pure boundary hitting, exemplified by the sixth over, which Sharma took for 20 runs off Ryan Barnes, all either rolling to the rope or sailing meters over it. Priest (44* from 47) would carry his bat through the innings, while James Carboon (31 off 23) and Dylan Barber (17 off 12) did the work at the other end to chase the total off 18.4 overs. “I don’t think we bowled too badly to Vishal, he just came out and just went off his head,” Wilson said. “That’s as clean hitting I’ve seen in quite a while - from pretty much ball one, he was hitting sixes halfway up the trees. “He gave them a really good platform, and from there Jonty and Jimmy Carboon were able to knock the strike around and get the job done. “When you play T20s, one bloke can really steal the show, and that’s what Vishal did – all credit to him and all credit to Benalla, they were just too good for us.” The weekend’s results across the board spelled the end of the line for the Hawks in the T20 format, finishing third overall. Wilson said the focus would turn back to the one-day competition, resuming in January, in which the Hawks are undefeated. “We’ll lick our wounds and learn from it,” he said. “It’s the first year, a lot of the boys haven’t played T20s before, so we’ll learn from it, we’ll get better. “We’ll have a couple of weeks off now, we’ll come back after Christmas and get stuck into the one-dayers where we’re sitting on top.”

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