The SH Daredevils steamrolled the competition in Chiayi City over the weekend, successfully defending their Taiwan Sixes trophy.
The southern side posted an even hundred runs from their five overs in the final against Aaleja Restaurant Badshaws A, which was always far too many.
Player of the Final and Batter of the Tournament Roy Horgan continued his irresistible form by launching three big sixes out of the ground and retiring on 30 from only 13 deliveries. Graham Terblanche (29) joined in the carnage, matching Horgan’s six count and nearly taking out an umpire with a bullet-like straight drive.
In reply, Touseef Ahmad smacked 34 with a couple of sixes of his own, but with so many runs in the bank the bowlers just had to keep the ball on line and wait for the mistakes to come, and they did, with Mujahid Aleem and Tanwer Shoaib both falling caught and bowled while chasing big shots.
Their total of 75 might have provided a challenging chase, especially with the restrictive bowling of Shoaib and Ahmad, but the Daredevils’ dominance of Taiwan Cricket seems an insurmountable challenge at the moment.
The only hiccup to their weekend came in the morning when a few of the team failed to arrive in time for their first match. The forfeited match against the Van Diemen Formosa Club (FCC) was played outside the tournament. FCC restricted the Daredevils to 46 and comfortably topped that to hand the champions their only defeat, but in the subsequent semi-final the Daredevils set FCC 106 to win and Bowler of the Tournament Jeff Black saw off the top of the order.
Ric McGrail backed up some courageous bowling with 23 off the bat, but it was never going to be enough.
In the other semi-final, the Badshaws posted 92, with Shoaib hitting 28. He then skittled two wickets in his over to send the Scunners into the Plate competition with FCC.
The Plate final was the closest competition of the day, with Johan Koekemoer (22) and McGrail (18) building a target of 62 for FCC.
Simon Mitchell sent back the two openers in his first over and captain Kris Belling also picked up two in the last.
Andri Cremer steered his side toward the target with 19 and the Scunners were still in with a chance even when Koekemoer took two wickets of his own, but Thomas Rayen held his nerve in the last over to bowl three dot balls, claim a wicket and secure the Plate.
In the Bowl, Oddfellows crashed out to an ecstatic Swingers side who showed no mercy in racking up 115, the largest total of the tournament.
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