HALLAM Senior College came close to another state championship – falling at the final hurdle to Strathmore Secondary College in the School Sports Victoria senior girls cricket grand final.
Playing Healesville in the semi-final and batting first, Hallam made 3/88 of 20 overs. Karly Tapner and Toni Black kicked off the scoring strongly with a 54-run partnership as Tapner went on to top-score with 29. Brittany Partington finished off the innings well on 18 not out.
Wickets were hard to get when Hallam bowled, but the girls managed to keep Healesville short, as it struck 5/74 off their allotted overs. Best of the bowlers were captain Rachael Hunt with 2/6 off four overs and Brittany Partington with 1/17 off her four overs.
This win put Hallam through to the grand final against Strathmore and Hallam bowled first. Strathmore was in real trouble early as Hallam snared 3/5 off the first five overs. However from there they steadied and put on some good partnerships to finish 8/68 off their 20 overs.
A stellar captain’s bowling performance from Hunt – 4/4 off four overs, was well supported by Black with 2/5 off two overs.
Chasing this total proved tricky for Hallam – also losing quick wickets with both openers out with only 11 runs on the board. However, Hunt (19) and Partington (14) got Hallam back on track and for the remainder of the innings runs ticked by as the wickets also fell, unfortunately falling nine runs short, bowled out for 59.
It proved another successful year for the girls, finishing runners-up in the state final.
