The Round Three T20 match between Kilsyth and Upper Ferntree Gully was played at Pinks Reserve on Thursday 13 November, rescheduled from Tuesday due to the weather.
Upper Ferntree Gully won the toss and elected to bat. Their team included two former Kilsyth players in Matthew Clark and Scott Nicholson. Andy Solomons captured the first wicket, caught behind by ’keeper Will Beard and UFTG were 1/24 after 3.1 overs.
The second wicket fell with the score on 43 from 6.4 overs when Mackenzie Scott-Thomas took a good catch at long on off the bowling of Sagar Ahir. When Ahir bowled Matthew Clark, who had batted well for 34, Upper Ferntree Gully were 3/51 off 8.2 overs. It was soon 4/60 when Ahir took his third wicket in his next over, clean bowled, to have UFTG 4/60 off 10.4 overs.
Kilsyth were keeping it tight with the score 4/85 after 14 overs. The fifth wicket fell on 91 in the 15th over, when ’keeper Will Beard stumped Peter Dunlop for 17 off the bowling of Dylan Smith.
Another tight over from Mackenzie Scott-Thomas yielded only three runs and Upper Gully were 5/95 off 16 overs with Kilsyth well in the game. In the 19th over Andy Solomons picked up two wickets to see ’Gully 7/121 with one over to be bowled. One of the wickets to fall was that of Daniel Beyer, who skied a catch to ’keeper Will Beard after attempting a big hit. Beyer had made 34 to be the equal top scorer.
The other wicket resulted from Dylan Smith taking a very good catch at backward square leg off Andy Solomons’ bowling. The last over yielded 11 runs to see Upper Ferntree Gully finish on 7/132cc.
The wicket takers for Kilsyth were Sagar Ahir, 3/13 off four overs, Andy Solomons 3/35 off four overs, and Dylan Smith 1/12 off two overs. Mackenzie Scott-Thomas bowled economically to finish with 0/17 off four overs. Wicket keeper Will Beard took two catches and a stumping in a tidy display behind the stumps.
The target of 132 off 20 overs was well within the capability of the Kilsyth team but they got away to a bad start and were 3/16 off 3.4 overs with spinner Sajana De Silva capturing all three wickets. This brought Captain Andy Solomons to the crease and the score advanced to 40 after six overs. However, on the first ball of the seventh over, Mackenzie Scott-Thomas was caught at deep square leg off the bowling of Hayden Wilson for 12 off 14 balls.
In the next over, it was 5/51 when Andy Solomons was caught at cover off the bowling of Matthew Clark. Solomons had scored a brisk 19 off 15 balls, and Kilsyth had slumped to 5/51 off 7.4 overs.
It was soon 6/61 after 11 overs when Wilson picked up his second wicket, caught by Daniel Beyer at mid-on. Nevertheless, the Redbacks recovered to be 6/100 after 16 overs with Pasan Ganegoda and Sagar Ahir forming a partnership. At the same stage, UFTG were 5/95, so Kilsyth were well in the match. The equation for Kilsyth was 33 runs to win off four overs.
However, it was at this point, Matthew Clark picked up two wickets in the 17th over to see the Redbacks 8/106 with three overs to go. Sagar Ahir was the first of the two batsmen to fall after scoring 16 off 18 balls. Following the completion of 18 overs, Kilsyth were 8/114 compared to UFTG’s 5/113 at the same stage. However, Scott Nicholson took the final two wickets in his next over in poor light to see the Redbacks all out for 117, 16 runs short of the target in a disappointing batting performance.
Pasan Ganegoda was a shining light with the bat and remained unbeaten on 32 not out off 29 balls (three fours).
