Home-town Hounds give spectators a thrill

Newman clouted 12 fours and three sixes in another batting master class.

Onlookers also got a brief sample of another gifted Kyabram batsman, Kyle Mueller, who entertained the large crowd in a brief stay at the wicket.

Mueller was at the wicket for just seven deliveries but made 20 with two sixes and two fours during his cameo in which he manufactured a couple of uncanny hits to the boundary behind the wicket.

While it was a respectable Hounds’ score, reigning premier Mud Dogs, who had to win to get their chance to make the final, took the game down to the last ball in a pulsating finish.

With wickets in hand, Mud Dogs looked to be in the box seat when it needed 21 off the last two overs to secure the win.

But American representative player and Hounds bowling spearhead Cameron S[i]tevenson turned the game back in Hounds’ favour when he conceded just five runs in the penultimate over. This left Mud Dogs 16 runs to get off the last over bowled by Rochester all-rounder Dylan Cuttriss.

With a six and two fours taken off the first five deliveries, Mud Dogs’ Tyler Beard needed only two off the last ball to deliver the Mud Dogs a win.

But Cuttriss proved up to the occasion, conceding just one run to leave the Hounds one run winners and a spot in the final against the Shepparton-based side Jarvis Delahay Crushers in the final to be staged at Shepparton’s Deakin Reserve on February 19.

— The early game between Jarvis Delehay Crushers and Cobram Panel Work Panthers didn’t get under way due to constant drizzle.

This was a huge disappointment for the host club, Kyabram Cricket Club, who had done a magnificent job in catering, but the large crowd certainly enjoyed the Hounds-Mud Dogs confrontation which produced some superb T20 cricket.