Tewantin-Noosa claim 2024/25 Sunshine Coast cricket first grade T20 title

Tewantin-Noosa have been crowned 2024/25 first grade T20 champions as we highlight the major moments, key players and deciding factors. Read the match as it happened.

Tewantin-Noosa claim 2024/25 first grade T20 premiership.

The Swans scrapped into the final with a three run victory over Caboolture in their semi final while Tewantin-Noosa came over the top over Nambour in the other top four match-up.

Winning the toss, the home side elected to bat first at Read Park which some spectators felt might play into the Swans favour.

The Swans hadn’t lost a T20 match this season and were the standout team with the ball in hand during the opening five overs.

Despite their form with the ball, Tewantin-Noosa found themselves in no immediate hurry to score as they cruised to a handy total of 3-154 from their 20 overs.

Four of their top five batsmen recorded double digit scores with opener Sam Dennien leading the way with 44 from 39, followed by Samadhi Baker (39 from 32) and skipper Michael Eckard (37* from 29).

The chase was on for Maroochydore but as their first wicket fell, a costly Josh Tyson run out, the storyline struggled to shift all afternoon.

Action from the 2024/25 Sunshine Coast T20 first grade final. Picture: Patrick Gillett/Pattman Sport.

Tayden Smit slowly but surely moved through the gears, opening up his body and hitting a handful of back-to-back boundaries while Henry Wilson also looked to get in on the action.

With the match in the balance Wilson was dismissed thanks to a stunning one hand grab from Jarrod Officer on the boundary before captain Blaine Schloss came and went for one run.

Leading run scorer Smit was the next to fall after 35 from 30 deliveries and the Swans quickly found themselves 4-71 from the opening 11 overs.

Maroochydore weren’t going to go down without a fight as Matt Watson and Tom Olsen kept the scoreboard ticking over, combining for a healthy partnership before Olsen was run out on 24.

Action from the 2024/25 Sunshine Coast T20 first grade final. Picture: Patrick Gillett/Pattman Sport.

Tewantin-Noosa’s pressure was too much for Maroochydore as fast bowler Tom Stewart rifled one through the stumps for the Swans to require 21 runs from the final over.

The match came to a close with Tewantin-Noosa winning by 12 runs.

Despite opting to bowl first in their semi-final, Tewantin-Noosa captain and player of the match Michael Eckard said the change to bat first against Maroochydore was a crucial one.

“We knew we had to get early wickets against Nambour and thought if that was to happen it would be a lot more likely in the morning session,” he said.

“They had a good start, Steven Ledger tore us apart from one end with 52 from 26 but we got a wicket in the first over and kept taking wickets at the other end.

“We wanted to bat first in the final, we played here yesterday and it was great for scoring runs but we knew that would deteriorate more and more as the day went on so we just tried to squeeze as much out of it as we could.”

Tewantin-Noosa claim 2024/25 first grade T20 premiership.

Eckard said his side agreed a run total of 140 or more would be beneficial.

“They batted really well, I thought they were striking the ball really well at the start which we didn’t expect but there were a couple of crucial catches and early run outs in the field which really helped us,” he said.

“We just missed out last year on the T20 final but we learnt a lot from that defeat and it was nice to play it at home this time too.

“It’s the start of a good season, we’ve got a great bunch of players that thrive off pure enjoyment so it’s a big well done to the boys and credit to the time and effort they’ve put in.”

Maroochydore captain Blaine Schloss said it was unfortunate that his side couldn’t defend their 23/24 T20 title but are looking forward to the rest of the season.

“If I won the toss we were going to bowl anyway and I still wouldn’t change that decision, I just thought our first three to four overs were really off,” he said.

“We pride ourselves on our discipline and being really tight with the ball but unfortunately we were chasing about 10 or 15 more runs than we would’ve liked.

“There was one stage of the game I thought we were really wrestling with the momentum after Tayden (Smit) hit a few boundaries and then Henry (Wilson) came out swinging but that catch on the boundary from Jarrod (Officer) was an outstanding piece of cricket and it just set us back even further.”

Schloss said there were some positives to take away from the match, despite the end result.

“Our goal this year is to be playing in these big games and find out if we’re good enough to lift the trophies which hasn’t changed after today

“We feel like we are good enough to beat Caboolture, Tewantin-Noosa and whoever else is going to compete so we’ve got things to work on but it’s still early in the season and there’s two more trophies up for grabs.”