Western Stars 189

St. David's 191-3

Glenn Blakeney gave St. David's fans a last, triumphant hurrah for the season, starring with bat, ball and gloves to sweep his team to victory in the inaugural Premier Divisions Knockout Cup final on Saturday.

The left-hander, who has consistently decimated opposing bowling attacks this year, clobbered 136 runs off 73 balls in his side's whirlwind reply to Western Stars' 189 all out in 49.2 overs in the season finale.

When he was finally bowled by 13-year-old Dennico Hollis - with the score at 166 for two and more than 30 overs left in St. David's innings - the result was a formality. It was eventually achieved as O.J.Pitcher deposited Corey Berkeley's third ball over square-leg for the winning six - St. David's 191 for three in 21.3 overs.

Blakeney signalled the start of an unusual all-round performance earlier when he came from behind the stumps - after injuring a finger - to feature with the ball, snapping up two Stars wickets for 26 runs from seven overs. Prior to giving up the gloves to Fiqre Crockwell, the hero of the day caught Stars opener Jermaine Postelthwaite for nought off Lionel Cann.

However, Blakeney's batting blitz was the highlight of the afternoon at Sea Breeze Oval as he ravaged Stars' bowlers, forcing opposing skipper Albert Steede to employ numerous changes to try containing him. None were successful. The normally economical Dwayne Leverock came in for harsh punishment, being smashed for 18 in his first over. After bowling six overs for 51 without a wicket he retreated to wicket-keeping.

Gershon Gibbons fared worse - four overs for 53 runs (one wicket); 21 from one over. Another 28 runs came off Arnold Manders' four overs.

Spectators wearing sunglasses would have been happy to have their eyes protected as they frequently had to look up into the sunny skies to follow the towering flight of several of Blakeney's 15 sixes. There were also nine fours in the 29-year-old's boundary-studded innings. His 50 came off 30 balls in 27 minutes and he marked an even 100 off 58 balls in 54 minutes. Both landmarks were, not surprisingly, reached with the appropriate aplomb - a six.

"I knew I was off form in my last three or four knocks and I felt I needed a positive way to end the season, especially for the fans. I am pretty pleased because we were able to dominate good opposition.

"It's the calibre of Western Stars that makes us step up our game and we were the better team on the day," said Blakeney, whose batting partners were happily relegated to watching and applauding his feat.

Saying this year was "definitely my best season", the St. David's opener, who cracked a record 303 not out against Bailey's Bay earlier this year, admitted needing more cricketing challenges.

However, his captain Clay Smith seems to have the answer for that as he hopes his team can build on a creditable season in which they placed third in the Premier League and thwarted a Stars clean sweep by wresting the only two titles which the town team failed to claim.

"We planned for this. We strategised and we mainly wanted to contain their batsmen and we did that."

Smith noted that opening the bowling with Lionel Cann and Del Hollis might have surprised Stars since St. David's boast two of the league's faster bowlers in George O'Brien Jr and Mackie Crane.

"That was different and I think it slowed them up at the beginning. That was our game plan and it worked to perfection. Then Glenn came in and had one of those days where he was first class and won the game for us."

O'Brien and Cann shone for St. David's with the ball, taking four for 27 off 10 overs and three for 52 off eight overs respectively.

Steede graciously conceded his team was just "second best" on the day while still expressing pride at Stars' season overall.

"They definitely outplayed us in both bowling and batting today. All credit goes to them. We split the season 2-2 with them and that sets up for a great rivalry next year.

"I would have liked one of our victories to have been this Knockout final or Camel Cup but that's how it goes. They were definitely the better team on both of those days.

"Four out of six trophies is not bad. Some teams would be happy with one or two but we ended with four so the season was still very good for us," noted Steede who contributed 33 with the bat.

Corey Berkeley, with 40 runs, Manders, 38, and Leverock, 29, were the only other Stars batsmen in double figures. Extras were a valuable 32.

Regarding Blakeney's match-winning century, Steede shrugged in despair, saying "you just have to bowl at the stumps and hope he mishits".

"That's the only way really. He is a phenomenal timer of the ball. He has great eyesight and there's not much you can do when he has the momentum going like that.

"We tried to bowl at the stumps and if he had missed or mishit that would have been great but his timing was impeccable today and he batted exceptionally well."