North Albury beat Wodonga by four wickets in CAW T20 grand final

The Hoppers, top of the ladder and flag favourites in the provincial competition, limited Wodonga to 9/105 thanks to a high-quality bowling and fielding display.

However, it was game on when they slumped to 5/52 in reply, before Cal Langlands played a match-winning knock of 36 not out to steer his side home.

"To go through the T20 undefeated is a really good effort and to cap it off today is a good feeling," North Albury captain Brendan Simmons said.

"To get it done up front and have enough wickets left to get the runs was awesome.

"We haven't been in the best form of late but when our backs are against the wall, we come out fighting and back our blokes to get the job done.

"Cal rotated the strike really well and when he got that bad ball, he put it away.

"Someone needed to do that anchor role and he did it really well."

Having won the toss and put Wodonga in, North Albury were soon in the ascendancy.

Tim Hartshorn opened the bowling and set the tone, his second over a double-wicket maiden which sent Michael Grohmann and the prolific BJ Garvey back to the sheds, the latter falling to an excellent diving catch by Simmons.

Wodonga captain Tom Johnson tried to fight fire with fire but having just hit two fine boundaries off Haydyn Roberts, he was clean bowled by the Hoppers paceman whose roar of delight underlined the significance of the moment.

Bob Jackson's busy running between the wickets steadied the ship for a while but wickets kept falling at the other end.

Langlands had Jack Gilbee caught behind before, in the next over, brilliantly running out Cameron Suidgeest while lying on the floor after sprawling to save what looked a certain boundary.

Jackson, who looked to target the spin of Langlands, scored a fine 46 off 43 balls to help Wodonga reach three figures, but their score still looked well under-par.

The start of North Albury's run-chase was eventful to say the least.

Three boundaries came from the first four balls before Tim Hartshorn was run out in calamitous fashion, and when the impressive Mason Brown (3-18) had Ash Borella caught by Garvey for nine, the belief started to flood back into the Bulldogs.

Ben Fulford soon followed for an eight-ball duck and there was something happening every ball, with Anthony Hartshorn going for his shots.

Hartshorn was dropped on 22 but he was castled by Brown just a couple of balls later, with Simmons then dismissed for one.

With five wickets down and 54 runs still needed, the final was in the balance and waiting for someone to seize it by the scruff of the neck.

That man was Langlands, who put on 40 with Ben Paddle (15), playing intelligent cricket and drawing the energy out of Wodonga as the target dwindled.

Langlands and Ryan Addison steered the Hoppers home in the 18^th over to start the celebrations.

"It was an outstanding effort from the boys," coach Matt Condon said.

"Our bowlers have set an exceptionally high standard but the fielding stepped up another level today.

"I was always confident (even when we were losing wickets). We've got a lot of depth, which helps, and to have someone like Cal, a quality player who probably hasn't had the results he'd like this year, for him to succeed under pressure - which is what finals cricket is about - is a huge credit to him.

"That's a huge tick for this season so far but we want to step that up again come 50-over finals time.

"It shows the strength of this comp to see two different sides show totally different skills but execute those skills under pressure.

"You look at the stock of players we've got here in Cricket Albury-Wodonga and there's no reason we're not the best in country NSW."

Across the road at Martin Park, St Patrick's beat Lavington by five wickets in the B-grade grand final.

Man-of-the-match Will Keighran took 3-19 as the Panthers were bowled out for 108, with Marcus Reid unbeaten on 37.

Patties fell to 3/22 in reply before Thomas Cox's 30 not out saw them home.

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