BATHURST cricketer Jono Dean and his Weston Creek Molonglo side have broken their finals losing run by claiming the ACT’s Konica Minolta Regional Twenty20 Cup final against Tuggeranong Valley at Manuka Oval on Sunday night.
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WCM had lost the last two Twenty20 cup finals and made the final in all three formats last season but lost them all.
Captain John Rogers was understandably excited to break the run and said the recent history ran through his mind in the final overs before sealing the tournament by 11 runs.
"I must admit, I was a little bit nervous towards the end there," Rogers said.
"You've got to learn how to win these big games and I guess you have to lose a few to figure it out."
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the Creekers' prominent batsmen Dean and Rogers contributed scores of 31 and 39 respectively but tight bowling restricted their impact.
Regular wickets then meant Weston Creek couldn't create momentum in the second half of their innings and posted a total of 129.
Tuggeranong were also lively in the field, particularly Michael Barrington-Smith who ran in from the outfield and took a spectacular diving catch to remove batsman Harry Medhurst.
Adam Ritchard was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3-30.
Tuggies' opening batsmen Amit Sharma and Justin Haywood began positively and initially Creek's total seemed as though it would be too little.
Haywood continued his strong form, striking the ball powerfully, scoring 41 off 37 balls with seven fours.
Tuggeranong appeared to be cruising to victory but once Mac Wright removed Haywood, Tuggies' run rate slowed dramatically.
The Tuggeranong batsmen were then unable to gain any ascendancy and they fell 12 runs short of victory.
Having been in the middle, Rogers knew their total of 129 could be a par score if they bowled well.
"After the first few balls I faced out there I realised it wasn't going to be your fast-paced, bash-and-crash kind of wicket," he said.
"So a score upwards of six runs an over was going to be very tricky to face."
Rogers credited his bowlers for wrestling back the momentum after Haywood looked ominous for Tuggeranong.
"A big theme of our bowling is to be able to weather the storm. We knew at some point they were going to come hard but our bowlers have learned to just stick at it, we wait for the break through and then we squeeze," he said.
