The day had finally arrived, Sydney Lions Blue and Hornsby District fighting for the T20 crown. The match scheduled at Hornsby's Home Ground Montview Oval could not have started under higher pressure. Winning the toss, Sydney Lions chose to bowl first and were immediately feeling the heat on a not so sunny morning when Hornsby's openers raced to 0/32 after 3 overs. Things were pulled back slightly in the 4th over when Dilshan Leema came firing in and knocked the middle stump away.
Then came the the turning point, Captain Cool Chandra Gunarathne decided to bring himself into the attack and struck in each of his 4 overs to end up with a shared Man of the Match figures of 4/23. As if that was not enough, he also affected a runout completing a fielding fifer, and dismantling Hornsby top and middle order. But Hornsby was not done yet and were starting to climb back, only kept in check by some good middle overs bowling by David Senathirajah (1/22). Finally, Harsimrat Singh Sandhu and Menuja Goonaratne combined well to keep Hornsby tail from wagging with combined figures of 2/20 off their 6 overs keeping Hornsby to modest score of 9/117.
But the task was not done yet, we needed a composed head in the batting department as well. The role that was executed to perfection by the second Man of the Match, Nalin de Silva (45*). Around him, the rest of the batting champions could play their natural game to ensure the target was reached and the cup secured in the 19th over with a boundary by David Senathirajah. The batting was not without hiccups, however, some quick wickets and tight overs from Hornsby threatened to take the match away. However, good aggressive innings from Priyankara Maduranga and Dilshan Leema ensured that the required rate never got out of control.
Overall, this match screamed total team performance. The fielding was committed that including amazing running catches from Gaurav Bhatia, Kalutara Fonseka, & Menuja Goonaratne, and a runout from Chandra Gunarathne. The bowling was sublime with everyone playing their roles at different stages of the match. The batting was responsible with an anchor batsman and cameos all around.
This trophy has been coming for a while and we are glad it is finally here. Onwards to grab the regular season trophy now!