First ever 'super over' in T20 thriller

ST MARYS emerged as the surprise packets in the opening round of the month-long Busselton-Margaret River Cricket Association T20 competition on Saturday.

Saints young A-Grade side scored an upset win over Dunsborough in dramatic circumstances in their first game at Cowaramup Oval, and then overcame an undermanned Cowaramup in their second game to set up a 2-0 win-loss record for the first weekend.

Cowaramup and Margaret River staged the majority of the games in A-Grade and C-Grade for the first weekend, before the T20 action moves north to Busselton and Dunsborough in the coming weeks.

A clear division has already emerged between the top three and the bottom three A-Grade sides in the T20 competition, with Margaret River Hawks and Vasse also winning their opening two games to share the lead on the points table with St Marys, while Dunsborough, Yallingup-Oddbods and Cowaramup all suffered losses in their first two A-Grade games.

Dunsborough’s bad day was compounded when their A-Grade skipper Chris Reagan suffered bruised ribs after landing heavily while attempting a difficult catch in the game against Margaret River Hawks.

In the B-Grade T20 competition, Yallingup-Oddbods defeated St Marys with seven balls to spare in the sole encounter at Barnard Park, while in the C-Grade T20 competition, Dunsborough and Cowaramup are sharing the lead after both recording wins in their first two games.

Yallingup-Oddbods have one win and one loss in C-Grade, Nannup have two losses, and Vasse and YOBS Academy both have one loss from one start.

The clear highlight of the weekend was the A-Grade encounter between Saints and Dunsborough, which ended with both teams tied on 131 runs after 20 overs – resulting in the first ever “Super Over” in the history of the BMRCA T20 competition.

Scores were level when an outstanding one-handed return catch by Dunsborough’s spinner Cameron Sharpe saw the game culminate in a tie.

The Super Over that followed saw St Marys score 5 runs for twice out (the maximum wickets permitted), while Dunsborough could score only 2 runs for twice out.

Vasse registered the highest winning A-Grade total of the weekend with 6-168 from 20 overs against Cowaramup, with skipper Scott Young hitting 42 runs, while Cowaramup recorded the highest winning C-Grade total with an impressive 1-192 off 20 overs against St Marys.

Quinn Giroud (68 off 43 balls) and Griffin O’Neill (50 not out off 61 balls) registered the only century partnership of the weekend, an outstanding 125 for the first wicket for Cowaramup’s C-Grade side against St Marys, while veteran Andrew Cook hit an unbeaten 48.

The highest overall individual score of the weekend was Troy Rasmussen’s 81 not out off 58 balls for Nannup’s Covid-reduced C-Grade team against Cowaramup.

Another notable knock was Matt Snaddon’s 59 not out off 30 balls for St Marys against YOBS Academy, while Dunsborough’s Darcy Carroll hit 58 off 40 balls against Yallingup-Oddbods at Margaret River.

The only five-wicket haul recorded on the first weekend of the T20 competition was 5-16 by Zoraiz Saeed for St Marys against Cowaramup in their A-Grade game at Cowaramup.

This Friday afternoon will see the only Friday games to be staged in the BMRCA this season, with T20 games at Barnard Park, Dunsborough, Vasse and Margaret River, all commencing at 4.15pm.

Country Week gets under way in Perth on Sunday, with Busselton-Margaret River playing in A-Section and D-Section.