Finals heating up in Werribee

Here's how Cricket Australia's Indoor Manager, Paul Milo, saw Friday's action:

Follow: @CA_Indoor on Twitter

What a sensational day of indoor cricket at Werribee Indoor Sports Centre as the 2014 Australian Open Championships comes towards a close. Some of the highest quality matches for a long time and all before a strong crowd and huge live audience who followed the action via the live stream (live stream for Saturday here).

Match one on the main MCG court saw the Major Semi Final of the Lord's Taverners Shield division taken out by Victoria 134 – 119 in a very even contribution from the locals against Queensland. Man of the Match Brett Wilson did all he could for Queensland making 23 runs and taking 3-5 but his efforts were in vain. The Queenslanders managed to convincingly take out the Preliminary Final against Western Australia to set up another shot at Victoria on Saturday in the Grand Final (live streamed on cricket.com.au).

In the Under 20 Ladies, one of the matches of the day was Victoria v NSW which saw an evenly-matched first two skins before NSW took the points by restricting the Vics to only 18 for the third pair and needing 40 for the last pair. The Vics were up to the challenge and put on 41 for the final pair including four off the final ball struck by Sophia Field!

In the Under 20 Men, the second live streaming match was an all Queensland affair with the more fancied Queensland Maroon team consistently working its way to 133 and never looking troubled by restricting the Queensland White team to only 93 runs. Man of the match was Adrian Lascu who made 26 and took an amazing 3-1 off his two overs. As expected the WA team was too strong for ACT in a high scoring match (147 –124) to make their way through to the Preliminary against Queensland White. The 7.45pm U/20 Prelim was a low scoring affair with Queensland White scoring just 84. After getting out of the blocks with 42 off the first 4 overs and 27 off the next 4 overs, Queensland White hit their straps restricting the third pair to just one and suddenly WA was under pressure. In the end it was another classic match with WA holding their nerve to win off the last ball to set up a Queensland and WA Grand Final.

An absolute classic match between traditional rivals NSW and Queensland in the Open Ladies was highlighted by an outstanding partnership between Australian outdoor representative Sarah Coyte and Player of the Match Claire Koski who put on 53 for the final NSW pair – almost half the NSW total of 112. In reply Queensland showed a great deal of consistency to creep along and whilst they were in control the whole match, the Queenslanders needed to face the final over by Coyte still behind the total. Nerves were high however no wickets and five runs was just enough for Queensland to get across the line by one run! Easy wins by Victoria v South Australia and then Queensland over South Australia in the Prelim sets up what should be a great Grand Final to be live streamed at 11.15am on Saturday.

The highlight for many at Werribee and those tuning in will likely be the Queensland and Victoria Open Men's Semi Final. Victoria went in as underdogs, however produced an amazing first 4 overs to leave the Queensland side stunned at 0 after four overs. The second pair saw the Queensland skipper Lyle Teske come to the crease and with Adam Toussaint put on 18 and 15 respectively to give the Queensland team hope with 33 at the halfway mark. Solid batting thereout saw the Queensland team record their lowest score for the tournament with only 79 runs. The Vics started well with 26 after four overs before adding only eight for the second pair. Melbourne Stars and Tassie bowler Clive Rose came to the crease and put on 31 with Brad Jones – with Clive adding a game high 23. Needing only 15 off the past four overs, the Vics didn’t put the pedal down and struggled with -10, 10 and 10 off the next 3 overs including 3 wickets in a row from the bowling of Lyle Teske. A wicket second ball off the last over and a cracking scoreless ball by Andy Byrne off the second last ball ensured the Vics needed three off the last ball. The attempted extra run was never on an a run out was the result allowing the Queensland team to sneak in to the Grand Final – leaving the big local crowd shattered.

The other Men's semi-final was won by the underdog SA over ACT with their skipper Michael Ledgard continuing his fine tournament with a Player of the Match display with 23 runs and 2-6. SA progressing through to the Prelim Final to be live streamed late in the day – SA 116 to ACT 90.

The Preliminary Final was another low-scoring, tight match for the Vics who got away to a very slow start with the SA opening pair putting on 42. The final three pairs only contributing 27 helped keep the score to a very reachable 69 – although a low score troubled the Vics earlier in the day v Queensland . A very solid 30 from the first four overs was followed up a solid 18 off the next four to be within 21 at the half way mark. It was never in doubt from there and the Vics set up another clash with Queensland by 49 runs (118 – 69). The Grand Final between Queensland and Victoria is on at 1.15pm on Saturday.

Grand final schedule for Saturday 26th

9am                       U/20 Ladies – NSW v Qld (Live streamed) & Lords Taverners Shield – Qld v Vic

11.15am               Open Ladies – Qld v Vic (Live Streamed) & Under 20 Men – Qld Maroon v WA

1.30pm                 Open Men – Qld v Vic (Live Streamed)