IT was billed as a party and the big turnout at the Beechworth Oval wasn’t disappointed — the music blared, a running commentary, Christmas parties and, in the end, there was a tie between the two doing battle in the middle.
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Chasing 122, Myrtleford needed just four runs off the last over of its Twenty20 clash with last year’s beaten grand finalist, Beechworth.
But two off the first ball was followed by two dot balls and two wickets.
Beechworth captain Brenton Surrey said his team had done well to salvage something from the match.
“They needed 14 with three overs to go and so to get away with sharing the points was a pretty good result,” he said.
“We thought we were 15 runs short of what we should have got, particularly after a decent start.
“But we had something to play with and so we mixed it up with the bowling.
“We bowled everyone an over at a time. That didn’t give them a chance to get settled and that kept them guessing.”
Surrey said the game was part cricket, part Christmas break-up and a ground announcer had kept everyone aware of the scoreline.
“We all knew where we were at,” he said. “There was music during overs and the announcer to keep it interesting.
“But with just four runs needed in that last over you expected one good hit could win it.
“In any Twenty20 game it takes one batsman to get going for 10 to 15 balls to change the game. Neither side could find that.”
Surrey said Beechworth’s poor performance against Rutherglen in the last round had been the only real blight on the first half of the season.
“Had we done better against Rutherglen, I would have said the first half year was about par,” he said.
“We will have to play some good cricket after the New Year to be in the finals.”
Elsewhere, last year’s champion, Bruck, lost its second game in three weeks when outgunned by City Colts.
