Northern Brave opener Katene Clarke delivered a masterclass with an unbeaten knock of 100 off 54 balls to steer his side to a 31-run victory against the Volts at University Oval yesterday.
Clarke, who clipped the final ball of the innings up on to the bank to reach triple figures, became the first Brave opener to carry the bat through their innings and steered the Brave to their highest score against the Volts — 231 for three.
Troy Johnson and Jake Gibson, though, did give the Volts a glimpse at overhauling the massive total as they peppered the boundary late in the run chase.
Johnson finished with a career best 66 and shared a 77-run partnership off 33 balls with Gibson.
Spurred on by the big crowd, they went for everything but could not get over the line.
Clarke was ably supported in his carnage-causing knock by Brett Hampton (53) and Robbie O’Donnell (41).
Clarke and Hampton helped the Brave to 56 runs in the power play.
Hampton hammered one down the ground to bring up his half-century off 29 balls.
The Volts made the much-needed breakthrough when Ben Lockrose bowled Hampton to leave the Brave 91 for one.
That hardly bothered Clarke, who continued tonking the ball on to the bank.
Joe Carter started finding the boundary too while Clarke was a level head, spotting the gaps and executing.
Jake Gibson snatched a low catch to remove Carter and put the Brave at 129 for two.
But Clarke brought up a half-century off just 35 balls.
He owned the Brave’s innings. He mixed up his shots, met the ball down the wicket and kept the Volts bowlers on their toes.
O’Donnell must have been feeling left out. He punished the Volts with consecutive sixes in the penultimate over.
He was caught in the final over for 41 off 19 as the Brave wrapped up 231 for three.
In the Volts’ reply, Jamal Todd went for a duck when he pulled his shot to midwicket.
Jacob Cumming, though, made a solid start. He found great areas to hit to to pick up boundaries and caused havoc for the Brave bowlers.
It gave the Volts every chance to break into the hefty total.
But Zak Gibson arrested the momentum when he bowled Cumming for 38 and then removed Jack Boyle for a duck.
Volts captain Max Chu perished to a caught and bowled by Matt Fisher to finish the ninth over.
It put the Volts in trouble at 88 for four.
Johnson attacked hard, knowing he had to help get his side through. He was dropped by O’Donnell on 23.
Ruben Clinton holed out for eight as the Volts limped to 109 for five in the 12th over.
Johnson cracked a six down the ground and Jake Gibson whipped one up over the leg side.
Gibson was dropped — much to the delight of the big crowd — and Johnson then lifted another level.
He smacked some big sixes to bring up his half-century off 29 balls.
Jake Gibson got in on the action too. He hammered consecutive sixes.
But Johnson was then removed, caught trying to hit over the offside again but unable to clear mid off, and Lockrose and Zac Cumming went quickly.
The Volts wrapped up at 200 for eight.
VOLTS V BRAVE
BRAVE
B Hampton b B Lockrose 53 (32)
K Clarke not out 100 (54)
J Carter c J Gibson b T Johnson 22 (13)
R O’Donnell c J Gibson b D Ferns 41 (19)
S Kuggeleijn not out 2 (2)
Extras: (4b, 1lb, 8w) 13
Total: (for three wkts in 20 overs): 231
Fall: 1-91, 2-129, 3-222
Bowling: M Bacon 4-0-50-0 (4w), B Lockrose 4-0-48-1 (2), D Ferns 4-0-35-1 (1w), J Gibson 4-0-49-0, Z Cumming 2-0-26-0, T Johnson 2-0-18-1(1w)
VOLTS
J Cumming b Z Gibson 38 (21)
J Todd c Z Gibson b S Kuggeleijn 0 (5)
M Chu c & b M Fisher 37 (19)
J Boyle c B Pomare b Z Gibson 0 (2)
T Johnson c B Hampton b Z Gibson 66 (34)
R Clinton c Z Gibson b B Hampton 8 (10)
J Gibson not out 35 (18)
B Lockrose c M Fisher S Kuggeleijn 4 (3)
Z Cumming c O White b S Kuggeleijn 4 (2)
D Ferns not out 4 (6)
Extras: (2lb, 2w)4
Total: (for eight wkts in 20 overs): 200
Fall: 1-12, 2-76, 3-76, 4-88, 5-109, 6-180, 7-189, 8-193
Bowling: M Fisher 4-1-34-1 (1w), S Kuggeleijn 3-0-24-3 (1w), T Pringle 4-0-50-0, B Hampton 4-0-41-1, O White 1-0-14-0, Z Gibson 4-0-35-3
Result: Brave won by 31 runs.
