Victoria win fourth Big Bash title

The Victorian Bushrangers’ dominance of Twenty20 cricket was firmly established as they beat the Southern Redbacks by 48-runs in the KFC Big Bash finale on Saturday night.

After electing to bat, the Bushrangers were restricted to 166 for seven.

The very first ball from Dirk Nannes proved to be too good for the Redbacks. Nannes had captain Graham Manou trapped in front and the Victorians went up in joy, and there was more to follow.

He continued his first ball brilliance with a maiden over. The fast bowler finished the day with one for eight at an economy rate of 2.00 - the best ever in the KFC Big Bash.

The Victorians capitalised on the good start, with James Pattinson packing off Tom Cooper for two runs in the second over, From thereon, the Redbacks never recovered.

At three for two, when the Redbacks were living their worst nightmares, Pattinson returned to pick up Daniel Harris for six runs.

Mark Cosgrove (22) and Kieron Pollard tried to provide some entertainment to the crowd, who had gone quiet after a sloppy start from the Redbacks.

The duo put up a 64-run stand before Andrew McDonald tasted success with a brilliant delivery which sent Cosgrove’s wickets all over the place in the 13th over. Two deliveries later, Pollard was caught by stand-in captain David Hussey at the ropes.

Though Pollard had hit it hard, Hussey plucked a blinder. Pollard scored a brave 44 off 33 balls which made him the highest run-scorer of the Big Bash season at 190.
With Pollard’s departure, the Redbacks’ hopes of ending their 13 year trophy drought were also lost.

The next six batsmen managed to add 40 runs, restricting the Redbacks to 118 for nine. Pattinson and McDonald finished the day with a three wicket haul each.

Daniel Christian’s wicket in the 16th over took fast bowler John Hastings to number one spot in the most-wickets tally. He scalped 10 wickets from seven matches.

Earlier, Bushrangers’ opener Aaron Finch went for the leather, hitting 47 off 34 balls. He had a 47-run stand with Brad Hodge at the top, with most runs coming from Finch’s bat. Hodge tried to loft a delivery from Aaron O’Brien but the ball went straight to the bowler. He was caught for nine runs.

Finch began to rebuild a crucial stand with Rob Quiney, however, that did not last long, with the latter sent back for 12. Four overs later, in an attempt to clear the ropes, Finch was caught by Christian at long on.

A middle order debacle was caused partially by O’Brien who removed McDonald for 25 and Matthew Wade for 1.

But it was not over for the Bushrangers. Late fireworks were provided by Man-of-the-Match Aiden Blizzard. The explosive batsman hit 42 off jut 19 balls to take Bushrangers to a competitive total.

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