Nelson v Lowerhouse (Twenty20 Semi Final)

Lowerhouse booked their place in the Twenty20 final after a powerhouse display at Nelson on Friday evening.

The hosts batted first and failed to build any real momentum at any stage as Joe Hawke ripped through the order. Ryan Canning (8) was first to go as he was caught by Jon Finch. Tyler McGladdery (5) and Toqir Hussain (3) also fell victim to Hawke as he once again delivered impressive figures in these competition, 3/13 off his 4 overs (In between these dismissals, Matt Walker bowled out Russell Bradley for 0). Ben Heap also took 3 wickets (Neil Thompson for 11, Syed Shah for 5 and Lewis Bradley for 23 (the only Nelson to pass 20)) as the hosts continued to stutter. Cobus Pienaar came back to get rid of Harrison Phelan for 5 and ended Richard Meade’s late cameo for 16. Nelson’s innings ended in calamity as Sam Halstead was run out attempting a 2nd on the last ball as they ended on a paltry 91 all out after their 20 overs.

Lowerhouse’s response didn’t start according to plan as last week’s heroes Pienaar (3) and Jonny Whitehead (2) departed in the opening overs. Heap and Walker, though, managed to stabilise the situation and started to put together a more than useful partnership with some explosive shots to the boundary. Walker got to 27 when he failed to clear Halstead at long on off the bowling of Phelan. Heap departed via an LBW decision off the bowling of McGladdery for 33, a very important knock. Hawke (2) and Charlie Cottam (1) were both bowled out by deliveries from Shah that stayed very low. This made things slightly nervier but Jon Finch remained unruffled and finished the job with four 4s as he ended on 17* and gave Lowerhouse victory by 4 wickets. Final score was 94/6 after 16.3 overs.

MOM was Ben Heap for his 3/19 and 33.