North Albury wins T20 in final-ball thriller against Wodonga

The Hoppers required 42 runs from the final four overs to reach Wodonga's modest total of 6-135, but an unbeaten 45 from 41 balls from Simmons in a man of the match performance saw his side home on the final ball.

After two early wickets, Wodonga rebuilt its innings thanks to a near flawless 72 not out from 61 balls for Bob Jackson, while Jack Craig made 34 from 26.

The innings stalled in the final two overs with the Bulldogs only making a further seven runs to post 135.

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Jake Burge was outstanding with the ball for the Hoppers, grabbing 2-16 from his four overs.

North Albury lost Ash Borella for 10 early in their run chase, but steadied the ship thanks to a 45-run stand between Ben Paddle (29 off 31) and Simmons.

The introduction of Jack Craig changed the game for Wodonga as he removed Paddle with his first delivery, while Ryan Addison was run out in the same over after initially surviving a close LBW shout.

It looked like it was going to be too little too late for the Hoppers, but the final four overs went for 10, 12, nine and 11 runs, respectively, to see them home on the final ball.

After being dropped first ball, Haydyn Roberts found the crucial boundary in the last over and set the stage for Simmons to hit the winning run off the final delivery.

"It was a bit of a nail-biter. We needed 11 off the last over and we always had to get a boundary and pick a few gaps to get some twos," Simmons said.

"We tried to go as deep as we could and were lucky enough to get the chocolates.

"We bowled really well at the front end, but through the middle overs they got away a bit, so to keep them to 135 overall I was pretty happy.

"We had a steady flow of wickets, but we just kept trying to take it as deep as we could and take the risks we needed to.

"Hopefully this is a bit of a turning point for us. We've been thereabouts and lost a couple of games by 10 or 15 runs, which hurts you, but you turn those couple into wins and the season doesn't look so bad.

"Runs have been a bit skinny of late, so it was nice to hang around out there for a while and be there at the end."

It was a big day for North Albury who also won the second grade T20 grand final in thrilling fashion against East Albury.

The Hoppers were bowled out for 123 in the final over and East Albury was cruising at 0-93, before a flurry of wickets in the last five overs saw them fall three runs short at 5-120.