Northern Suburbs opener Josh Brown continued on from Friday night’s powerful innings (52 off 23 balls) to smash 147* off 68 balls (14 x 4s and 10 x 6s) in Saturday afternoon’s clash against University of Queensland at Alan Pettigrew Oval.
It was the third highest individual score in QLD Men’s First Grade T20 competition history behind Andrew Gode (179, Valley) and Chris Lynn (154, Toombul), and helped the Vikings to a massive score of 3/238, which proved too much for the Students as dual Bill O’Reilly Medal winner Scott Rodgie cleaned up with the ball to take 5/18.
Brown’s century efforts were matched earlier in the day by Toombul’s Scott Palombo, who dispatched the star-studded Redlands attack all over Peter Burge Oval in his first game for his new 2022/23 club.
Having previously played for the Gold Coast and been part of the last two First Grade T20 premierships, Palombo has developed a reputation as a powerful striker and Saturday’s innings of 111* off 72 balls (7 x 4s and 6 x 6s) has only furthered that.
Despite a Sam Heazlett fifty, Toombul’s score of 2/194 was too much for the Tigers and got the Bulls KFC T20 Max campaign off in style with a 30-run victory.
Elsewhere in the super Saturday of KFC T20 Max action, there were plenty of other standout individual performances and some amazing fixtures.
NSW and Sydney Thunder’s Arjun Nair started his KFC T20 Max in style for Western Suburbs with a brilliant allround performance of 33 off 25 balls and the season’s first five-wicket haul (5-23) in the victory over University of Queensland.
Western Suburbs made the most of their Saturday doubleheader, picking up two-from-two victories with veteran Steve Paulsen showing his class with scores of 50* (28) and 48 (29) against University and Toombul respectively.
Their evening victory over Toombul also featured a recognizable sporting name, with NSW Premier Cricket interstate recruit Elijah Eales, son of Australian Rugby Union legend John Eales, producing with the ball to claim 3/23.
Down at Bill Pippen Oval, the two-time defending premiers Gold Coast continued their winning ways as disciplined bowling kept Ipswich Hornets to 5/118 off their allotted overs and with Brisbane Heat’s destructive opener Max Bryant delivering another impressive knock (73* off 42 balls).
Last season’s grand finalists Sunshine Coast Scorchers also kicked off their KFC T20 Max competition in style to claim two-from-two wins in their Saturday doubleheader.
In their morning game, it was a thrilling final ball finish from Scorchers Sam Gardiner who hit a boundary to win the game with 3 runs needs and 9 wickets down.
In this lower-scoring game, Sunshine Coast’s Canterbury (NZ) KFC T20 Max recruit Fraser Sheat also starred with the ball (4/15) in keeping South Brisbane to 9/107.
Then in the afternoon fixture at Wynnum-Manly’s Bill Albury Oval, good team batting saw the Scorchers reach 5/163 (Brendon Schultz 41* and Tyran Liddiard 41) before Victorian Premier Cricket interstate recruit James Nanopoulos (4/22) did the damage with the ball in the victory over the Sea Eagles.
The Men’s Second Grade T20 Competition also saw plenty of cricket action on Saturday with Redlands, University of QLD and Gold Coast making the most of their opening fixtures to be two-from-two and leading the way.
The best individual performances in Men’s Second Grade were Toombul’s Dan Cranitch with 104 off 59 balls, along with the best bowling figures of 4/15 from University of QLD’s Josh Wigginton.
The rest of the opening round in the KFC T20 Max is:
Sunday, August 21
9.30am:
South Brisbane v Valley, Norman Gray Oval
Western Suburbs v Sandgate-Redcliffe, Graceville #1
Ipswich v Redlands, Baxter Oval
Gold Coast v Toombul, Ivor Marsden #1
1.30pm:
Sunshine Coast v Northern Suburbs, Kerry Emery Oval
University of QLD v Wynnum-Manly, Ken Mackay Oval
South Brisbane v Sandgate-Redcliffe, Norman Gray Oval
Western Suburbs v Valley, Graceville #1
Ipswich v Toombul, Baxter Oval
Redlands v Gold Coast, Ivor Marsden #1
Monday, August 22
6.30pm: University of QLD v South Brisbane, Ian Healy Oval
Tuesday, August 23
6.30pm: Sandgate-Redcliffe v Sunshine Coast, Ian Healy Oval
For more information on fixtures, results and highlights of the KFC T20 Max Competition and QLD Premier Cricket, follow any of these platforms:
QLD Premier Cricket Match Centre