Umbrellas hope to weather storm in DDBBL prelim

After scraping into the DDBBL finals, the George Banks Umbrellas are looking to keep their season alive against the Valley Raptors tonight.

Kieren Gibbs bowls for George Banks Umbrellas against Liebke Lions in Darling Downs Bush Bash League (DDBBL) round five T20 cricket at Highfields Sports Park. Picture: Kevin Farmer

CRICKET: Just 48 hours ago they were favourites to take out the minor premiership and head straight to the final.

Now the Valley Raptors find themselves in a do-or-die position ahead of tonight’s DDBBL preliminary final against the George Banks Umbrellas.

The Raptors finished the regular season in second position after sitting atop the ladder for much of the year.

The wait was much more nervous for the Umbrellas, who scraped into the finals after winning their last three games.

It came down to the wire for the Umbrellas, as neither the Aztecs nor Rockets were able to win by the necessary margin to snatch third.

“I think our team owner Phil (Coorey) was the most nervous,” captain Chris Hall said.

“There wasn’t much we could do about it besides sitting back and hoping for the best.”

They put themselves in the position on the back of a three win, two loss regular season.

Ultimately they booked their spot after getting over the top of the Liebke Lions.

An impressive effort saw them home with a five-wicket win, in what Hall said was an ideal lead-in to tonight’s preliminary final.

“I thought we bowled really well to restrict them to 142, which is a pretty good score for that ground (Highfields Sports Park),” he said.

“We knew we had to bat well. We were a bit behind the run rate but managed to catch back up.

“We still needed eight off the last over, which isn’t easy with Sam Doggett running in, but Liam Brown got the job done for us.”

The two sides met back in the opening round, where the stamped their authority as one of the teams to beat with a six-wicket win.

Hall said the side has continued to grow over the course of the season, and believes the game will be won with the ball.

“I thought we were a bit unlucky in that game,” he said.

“Their batting is the key for them. With Harry and Jack Wood, and Jack Carty, getting those first three wickets will put us on our way to winning the match.

“Cahill Park will be an interesting ground. A few of the guys have said it’s a bit slower, but that’s no different to what we’ve been playing on, and that will work to our bowlers advantage.”

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