SPORT Eagles hit title at pace
DARWIN winning its third successive two-day Premier Grade title at Marrara was no huge surprise, but the manner in which it disposed of Palmerston was.
Who would have thought the final would be over after just the first day yesterday?
But that says a lot about this champion club, and who knows when its dynasty will end?
Eagles captain Luke Shelton – such a massive contributor in his team’s past two longformat title victories – once again rose to the challenge as his team roared to a nine-wicket victory.
He took 4-27 off a stingy 24 overs as Palmerston was bowled out for just 120 in the 56th over.
“This was my first final where my heart was going a bit, because I didn’t expect that. It tops off a fantastic three years and I couldn’t be happier,” Shelton said.
“We got a couple of early wickets and bowled tight and didn’t give them anything.”
Shelton’s haul included the sought-after scalp of Power skipper Alex Bleakley, who scored a brilliant 133 not-out against Waratah in the second v third semi-final.
“We just needed to make more runs.
“That was the flattest wicket in history and to be bowled out for 120 runs on that is just unacceptable,” Bleakley said.
“Shelts bowled very well. We couldn’t hit him off the square and that was where they did their damage.”
Bleakley’s dismissal had his underdog outfit in trouble early at 4-64, with Shelton going on to clean up the middle and lower order.
“You go into a game confident but today was one of our more clinical performances and we performed at the right time,” Shelton said.
“I take my hat off to Palmerston – they’ve been outstanding. They should be very proud as a club.
“I don’t think us winning six (a combination of Twenty20, one-day and two-day) titles in a row has ever been done before,” he said.
“The other ones are special as well, and we’ve got a core group who played in a lot of those.
“We don’t get sick of winning them. We strive to get better and love playing with each other.”