Patel’s knock proves vital for Firebirds
Jeetan Patel has emerged as the unlikely hero as the Wellington Firebirds beat the Central Stags by 14 runs to claim the McDonald’s Super Smash title in New Plymouth yesterday.
Patel came to the crease at the end of the 16th over with his side sitting at 114-7 and looking for answers after being put in to bat first.
Alongside Matt Taylor (48no), the right-hander scored 28 runs from just 11 balls to give the Firebirds a late charge, lifting them to a defendable 172-7 from their 20 overs, hitting three sixes and a four.
‘‘I said to Tayls [Matt Taylor], mate the least we get is 30 then we’ll hopefully get a few extras on top of that. Tayls hit a few big rocks and I suppose we just picked balls in the over where we could hit and we got a couple,’’ Patel said.
‘‘I just thought we’ll do whatever we can and hopefully go and defend it, and we did that really well, but the way the guys bowled I thought was exceptional.’’
The Firebirds’ defence got off to a dream start with Stags batsmen Mahela Jayawardene (0), George Worker (2) and Jesse Ryder (0) falling before the team had 10 runs on the board, which they were unable to recover from.
‘‘We probably put on a partnership that I wouldn’t say changed the game, but it certainly gave us momentum and we bowled so well up front – to get three wickets in three overs and go on from there was fantastic.’’
It didn’t look good for Wellington at the start, with Stags seamer Blair Tickner putting his fingerprints all over the game in his first over, picking up the scalps of Hamish Marshall and Tom Blundell both without scoring.
With the Firebirds in a world of trouble at 8-2, Michael Papps and Grant Elliot went about lifting their side, knocking the ball around the park to pick up singles, only leaning into the occasional delivery.
The pair put on a 26-run stand before Stags seamer Ryan McCone dismissed Elliot, who was caught in the deep by Josh Clarkson.
With Papps having lost three partners early in the game, he maintained the same approach at the crease alongside Michael Pollard, with the pair cruising through to the 10-over mark by working singles, before Papps unleashed to hit a rare six in the innings.
He was out next ball, caught in the deep off the bowling of George Worker.
Worker struck again two overs later, picking up the wicket of Luke Woodcock. Michael Pollard and Anurag Verma followed soon after, leaving the Firebirds sitting at 114-7.
However, Taylor and Patel saw the Firebirds to a defendable total.
After the Stags horror start to their innings, Will Young and Ben Smith looked to fight to get the momentum they held early in the piece back and lifted the side to 46 runs before Young was dismissed trying to clear the fence.
With only 51 runs on the board through 10 overs, the Stags needed to lift.
Josh Clarkson (53no), Kain (17) and McCone (11) put up a fight, but were ultimately unable to get the team over the line, with Wellington running away with the win and the title.
After a slow start to the competition, Wellington finished off with a bang and took that momentum with them into the semifinal against Canterbury and again into the final.
‘‘It’s just belief,’’ Patel said. ‘‘We’ve been through some adversity with losing guys, but I’m so proud of these guys.’’
The way the guys bowled was exceptional. Jeetan Patel