T20 Max Semis Locked In

A defiant half-century from Patrick Cotter and Hugh Weibgen’s catch of the tournament has cemented Valley’s position on top of the ladder of the KFC T20 Max in a heavyweight clash on Wednesday night. 

Redlands, with last-start century-maker Marnus Labuschagne unavailable, failed to chase down 156 under lights at Allan Border Field due to a brilliant defensive effort from a Valley’s side that was also missing key players Jack Wildermuth and Callum Vidler.

In the semi-finals tomorrow night, Valley will take on South Brisbane at Allan Border Field in the 7plus Sport match while Western Suburbs will meet Redlands at Ian Healy Oval, with both games starting at 6pm.

In last night's clash, the Tigers were circumspect in their initial pursuit of 156, losing Sam Heazlett early as Valley restricted them to 1-34 in the powerplay. Cameron Boyce bowled seven consecutive dot balls to Tasmanian import Mac Wright before luring him out of the crease with a leg-break that dipped and eluded the flashing blade, leaving Redlands 3-67 at the halfway mark.

The turning point in the chase came via a superb fielding display from Hugh Weibgen. With James Bazley looming large as the key wicket for Valley, Weibgen swooped on a ball at cover, gathering and releasing in one motion to catch his Redland counterpart short.

The Valley skipper bettered that effort two overs later with a stunning one-handed catch to remove Jimmy Peirson and seal the game. Peirson looked to have hit a certain boundary as he lifted Benji Floros down the ground.

Weibgen, on the ring at mid-off, took a couple steps and hurled himself in the air with an extended right arm to pluck the ball over his shoulder and swing the momentum in one play.

Peirson’s departure signalled the end of Redland’s minor premier aspirations but Weibgen wasn’t finished. Bringing himself back into the attack, he took another catch; this time a reflex caught and bowled that saved the umpire from the brunt of a full-blooded drive.   

Cameron Boyce (1-21), Weibgen (2-32) and Benji Floros (4-20) were the pick of the bowlers for Valley as Redlands were restricted to 132, falling 24 runs short.

Earlier, Redland’s captain James Bazley won the toss and elected to bowl. Valley began ominously with Jack Beath and Hugh Weibgen laying a small platform in the powerplay.  

A third bowling change in as many overs brought success for Redlands with Beath (20 off 15) failing to lift Lachlan McClure over Sam Heazlett at mid-on.

The very next over, Carter Pearson held on to a diving catch at backward point to remove Weibgen and land a double blow. The wickets continued to tumble with Max Bryant holing out to long-on off Jack Sinfield’s first ball, completing a collapse of 3-4 to finish the powerplay.

Off-spinner Sinfield (2-21) and left-arm orthodox bowler James Pullar (3-30) were miserly, controlling the run-rate during the middle overs. Sinfield operated without a ’45 for most of the night, taking the batsman wider with a stacked off-side before sporadically spearing it straight to attack the pads and stumps of Valley’s middle order. 

Patrick Cotter and Tighe Morris combined for a 50-run partnership to steady the ship for the ladder leaders. Cotter was particularly destructive with a 42 ball 57 including four consecutive boundaries to bring up his fifty.

The no. 5 was the only batsman all night who seemed to pick up length early, launching McClure over mid-wicket into the practise nets to force a ball change.

Morris was supportive with 41* off 32 and played the shot of the innings with a lofted cover dive for six off Sam Heazlett.

Cotter fell to Pullar’s spin in the last over but the damage had already been done, taking Valley from a perilous position at 5-54 to a defendable 7-156.  

In the other matches last night, Lachlan Hearne's hot streak continued, hitting his second century of the tournament as Toombul (2-176 in 14.2 overs) outgunned University of Queensland (7-172) but finished just out of the top four.

Hearne's 105no from 46 balls featured nine sixes, and the clean-hitting left-hander showed why the Brisbane Heat had been so keen to sign him as he finished on top of the regular competition run-scoring list with 346 runs at 69.2, just ahead of Wildermuth with 334 runs at 111.33. 

Wests overpowered Sandgate-Redcliffe, with impressive left-arm quick Ollie Patterson taking 4-9 from four overs for the Buldogs as the Gators were bundled out for 81 chasing 7-154. The Australian Under-19 paceman from Sydney has taken 12 wickets at 9.25.

Just ahead of him on the wicket-taking list were a host of bowlers with 13 dismissals including Queensland Bulls paceman Gurinder Sandhu (South Brisbane), his brother Harmon Sandhu (Wynnum-Manly), Arjun Nair (Souths) and James Pullar (Redlands).