On Tuesday night at Ian Healy Oval, Sandgate-Redcliffe took on Sunshine Coast with the Gators winning the bat flip and sending the Scorchers in.
The always dangerous opener Alecz Day (40 off 35 balls) and NSW recruit Tyran Liddiard (59 off 44 balls) got the Scorchers off to a strong start with an 85-run opening stand.
Despite the strong platform, the quick wickets of Day, Tasmanian recruit Charlie Wakim and Liddiard halted the Scorchers batting innings, with Chathura Kaluthanthri (3/25) doing the damage with the ball for the Gators.
Some further tight bowling from PNG international recruit Charles Amini (1/22), saw the Scorchers innings reach 5/155 off their allotted overs.
Having played through light sprinkles of rain in the first innings, it was during changeover when there was an extended rain delay, with the chase reduced to 15 overs.
Upon return, the economical off-spin bowling of Alecz Day and Mitch Cook (both with figures of 1-4 off 2 overs) helped to pickup early wickets in the powerplay despite some powerful strikes from Sandgate-Redcliffe’s Jack Cooper (31* off 24 balls).
With the game evenly poised after completion of 7 overs at 2/47, the heavens opened up again with eventually no further play possible and Sunshine Coast claimed victory by 8 runs on DLS method.
Since Thursday night the KFC T20 Max opening round has included 23 fixtures of entertainment, with the leading teams being Western Suburbs and two-time defending champions Gold Coast both collecting 4-from-4 victories.
Just behind them on the ladder with three victories sits Northern Suburbs, South Brisbane and Sunshine Coast.
But with everyone still to play at least four more fixtures over the next weekend, anything is possible when it comes to the Top-4 Semi Final placings.
From an individual perspective, there are several players off to impressive starts with both bat and ball as some seek to impress Brisbane Heat selectors.
With the bat, Northern Suburbs destructive opener Josh Brown leads the runscoring with 269 runs (SR 205), having already smashed a century and 2 x fifties across the opening four games.
Trailing him is Toombul’s Scott Palombo (201 runs), Western Suburbs Sam Truloff (180 runs), Gold Coast’s Max Bryant (171 runs) and Steve Paulsen (159 runs) who have all produced match-winning innings across the opening weekend.
Then with the ball, it is Sydney Thunder’s Arjun Nair who has picked up 11 wickets as part of the spin-heavy Western Suburbs side as well as Northern Suburbs NSW recruit Scott Rodgie who joins him on the same tally.
Former Peter Burge Medal winner Nathan McSweeney is amongst the wickets with 9, along with Sandgate-Redcliffe’s Chathura Kaluthanthri and then Western Suburbs Chris Sabburg claiming 8 wickets so far with his off-spin.
The attention now turns to the second weekend of the inaugural KFC T20 Max, with another star-studded evening fixture tonight at Ian Healy Oval as Valley take on Redlands with both needing victories.
Then on Friday it is over to the hosting Northern Suburbs to take on Ipswich, as the Vikings seek to stay in their Top-4 position and Hornets look to record their first victory of the tournament.
Both Thursday and Friday night’s fixtures will be shown on Kayo Freebies as well.
The rest of the second round in the KFC T20 Max is:
Friday, August 26
6.30pm: Northern Suburbs Vs Ipswich, Ian Healy Oval
Saturday, August 27
9.30am:
Toombul Vs Northern Suburbs, Ken Mackay Oval
Gold Coast Vs Sunshine Coast, Trevor Hohns Oval
Valley Vs University of QLD, Alan Pettigrew Oval
1.30pm:
Redlands Vs Wynnum-Manly, Peter Burge Oval
Ipswich Vs Sandgate-Redcliffe, Baxter Oval
Sunshine Coast Vs Western Suburbs, Ken Mackay Oval
Gold Coast Vs South Brisbane, Trevor Hohns Oval
Northern Suburbs Vs Valley, Alan Pettigrew Oval
6.30pm: South Brisbane Vs Western Suburbs, Ian Healy Oval
Sunday, August 28
9.30am:
South Brisbane Vs Wynnum-Manly, Norman Gray Oval
Western Suburbs Vs Ipswich, Graceville #1
Sandgate-Redcliffe Vs Toombul, Trevor Hohns Oval
Redlands Vs University of QLD, Ken Mackay Oval
1.30pm:
Sunshine Coast Vs Valley, Kerry Emery Oval
Gold Coast Vs Northern Suburbs, Bill Pippen Oval
South Brisbane Vs Ipswich, Norman Gray Oval
Western Suburbs Vs Wynnum-Manly, Graceville #1
Sandgate-Redcliffe Vs Redlands, Trevor Hohns Oval
Toombul Vs University of QLD, Ken Mackay Oval
Monday, August 29
6.30pm:
University of QLD Vs Gold Coast, Allan Border Field
Wynnum-Manly Vs Sandgate-Redcliffe, Ian Healy Oval
Tuesday, August 30
6.30pm:
Ipswich Vs Wynnum-Manly, Allan Border Field
Toombul Vs Sunshine Coast, Ian Healy Oval
For more information on fixtures, results and highlights of the KFC T20 Max Competition and QLD Premier Cricket, follow any of these platforms:
QLD Premier Cricket Match Centre