Bennett revels in T20 final victory

There was a joke going around the Wellington Firebirds camp that they went to New Plymouth over the weekend for a hip replacement convention.

Both captain Hamish Marshall and fast bowler Hamish Bennett made reference to it when speaking on a break from the bus ride back to the capital from Taranaki on Sunday, having endured seemingly endless barbs about how old the team was throughout their McDonald’s Super Smash campaign.

Well the joke was on everyone else on Saturday, as the Firebirds’ collective experience came through in the final to claim a 14-run win over Central Districts in the final at Pukekura Park.

‘‘We joke about it, about how we’re in New Plymouth and we’re hoping there’s a hip replacement convention on,’’ Bennett said.

‘‘As a group we like it when people write stuff like that because it gives us more motivation to prove everybody wrong. At the moment sport is about bringing youth through and developing, and we’re showing you just can’t buy experience.’’

Although the combined age of the 11 on Saturday was 32, with five players over the age of 36, it was their youngest player, 24-yearold Matt Taylor, who played a crucial role. His 48 not out off 25 balls, in combination with Jeetan Patel (28 off 11), helped boost the Firebirds from 114-7 to 172-7 over the final four overs.

It proved to be a winning total after Bennett and Brent Arnel got the crucial early wickets of Mahela Jayawardene, George Worker and Jesse Ryder to have the Stags struggling at 6-3 in the third over, which the hosts were unable to recover from due to tight bowling from Patel and Grant Elliott.

‘‘We knew if we got Mahela, Worker and Ryder out for not many then we could put a few nerves in their shed and it worked out perfectly to be honest,’’ Bennett said.

Bennett went up with a massive celebration after taking a catch at short fine leg to dismiss the dangerous Jayawardene for a golden duck in the first over. He said there was extra in the celebration after copping an earful from the home crowd.

‘‘It was a big moment, but to be honest I copped that much s*** from the crowd when I was waiting to bat I just thought if I take a wicket or a catch I’m just going to milk it for the crowd. ‘‘I took that catch and turned around to the crowd in shock, it was a pretty good wicket to be honest.’’

Things got even sweeter for Bennett in the next over when he produced a ripping delivery which cut back to clean bowl Worker. ‘‘To be honest, it was a great crowd. The people in New Plymouth really showed up, we were grateful for that because it made the game. Having 4500 in there was fantastic.’’

The Firebirds lost their first four games of the Super Smash campaign before winning seven of their last eight on their way to the title.