Tom Edwards enjoyed an early birthday present as he engineered The Associates’ successful defence of their Evening Cricket League knockout crown with a superb four-wicket haul that ruined Renegades’ otherwise perfect season.

Renegades went into the league’s season-ending showpiece at Shelly Bay Field on Saturday hoping to complete the coveted double after their ten league wins and knockout semi-final victory over PHC.

But the league champions were undone by the pace of Edwards, whose four for 12 from four overs, all bowled, helped to bundle out Renegades for a below-par 91, in which Mike Ford made a top score of 21, and earned him the man-of-the-match award.

Edwards, the league’s leading wicket-taker, who turned 35 the next day, claimed a scalp in each of his first three overs and returned to polish off the innings from the last ball of the sixteenth and final over, as James Troughton chipped in with two for 26.

In reply, opener Gary Knight set The Associates on the path to victory with 26 before Will Tyrell weighed in with 28. Troughton eased pressure with two sixes in his 14 not out in the closing stages before Justin Freisenbruch settled it with a four with ten balls to spare. It was a far cry from last season when Dave Horan, with five needed, hit a six off the final ball to defeat Tuff Dogs.

Christof Van Tonder took two for 14 and Durnferd Davis, the Renegades captain, two for 20, but a disappointed Davis admitted his side had not scored enough runs.

“Our batting let us down, but we did well to stay in the game with only defending 90-ish coming down to the last two overs,” Davis said.

Simon Jones, the winning captain for the second season running, said: “This was one of our best performance for a long time; the way we bowled and fielded was superb.

“Tommy [Edwards] was exceptional at the top of their innings and was backed up brilliantly by all the other bowlers.

“To keep Renegades to under three figures was a huge effort.

“In the end, it felt reasonably comfortable and we had a few balls to spare — but there were definitely a few nerves when we needed 30 off the last five overs.

“Troughton’s ability to knock it out of the park again saw us over the line.”

De Wicketest won the Plate Final after beating High Flyaz by four wickets with four balls to spare.

Niel Thakur made 24 and Rohaan Simons and Swadish Gond 23 apiece in High Flyaz’s 108 for six, Paul Fox taking two for 20 and Logan Phillips two for 27.

Phillips, later named man of the match, followed up his double strike with top score of 24 in De Wicketest’s 110 for six, Ryan Lindo, Jason Titterton and Sammy Robinson providing support with 22, 21 not out and 21 respectively.

Mohd Parwez Alam was the pick of the High Flyaz attack with three for 21 while Rajnish Lotikar took two for 19.

After prizes were handed out after a season in which PHC’s Kevin Hurdle made top score, 92 against The Associates, and CV Chargers’ Piers Carr was leading run-getter.

Jones added: “We want to thank [organisers] Terence Corday and Marc Wetherhill for making this season possible; they’ve put a huge amount of work in behind the scenes.”