Bamawm-Lockington United claimed its third T20 trophy in two years when it won the Kookaburra Cup on Sunday, January 25.
As reported in last week’s Campaspe News, the Lions took on two back-to-back games against some of the best from the Northern Rivers region, first downing United in the semi-final, then following with a title-winning run chase over Strathfieldsaye Jets.
The win adds to BLU’s trophy cabinet, after the Lions also claimed the past two Goulburn Murray Cricket T20 competitions.
Captain Regis Chakabva said it was a great feeling for his squad to grab another trophy in the short-form game
“Having won the Thursday GMC comp, it was really nice to cross the line,” he said.
“Then obviously to go to the Kookaburra Cup, which is in some sense a bigger competition because it’s the wider Northern Rivers Association, and to win against a Bendigo side in the end, it was really good.”
Batting second in both games, Chakabva said it was all about composure in hunting down the target, making short work of the 123 required in the semi-final and timing things in the final to get the 150 needed early in the final over.
“Needing 150, we just took it from that perspective where we only needed another half a run per over on average (compared to the semi-final),” Chakabva said.
“In the grand scheme, chasing six (per over) in the first game and six-and-a-half in the second game meant that we didn’t need to change a whole lot.
“Thinking around those lines and just putting it into perspective definitely made it not feel like such a tall order.
“It was really good to get the kind of start that we did and then for everyone else who came in, even though we went under pressure a little bit at the back end when we lost a few wickets, we held our nerve to still cross the line, which was brilliant.”
Playing to the conditions has been a focus for the Lions, and is one of the reasons Chakabva opted to chase after winning both tosses in the Kookaburra Cup play-offs.
“When you’re chasing a low total, sometimes it’s not all about aggression, it’s just trying to go through the phases,” he said.
“When we played Ky (in the GMC final), the wicket was a little bit on the tricky side and it wasn’t exactly the kind of wicket that you would be successful being over-the-top aggressive.
“So us putting on 120, even though we thought it might have been a little low, it ended up being a match-winning total in the end, so I think it was probably more just adjusting to the situations presented on the day, and on Thursday (in the GMC) we did that well and on Sunday as well.”
Attention now turns to the McMahon Shield, where the in-form Lions will be hoping to complete a treble of silverware for 2025-26.
BLU currently sits in third in the longer-form one-day competition, boasting a record of 9-3.
Moama is clearly the team to beat with a perfect 12-0 record, while Echuca South sits half a game above the Lions at 10-3.
“We have to take each day, each game, as it comes at the moment and we need to make sure that we’re not complacent,” Chakabva said.
“We (want to) finish nicely in the top four and wherever we are in the top four as long as we give ourselves that chance to be in the semi then we take that game as it comes as well and just try and do our best on the day.
“The boys have been doing really well and we’ve just been trying to work on keeping simple plans and executing the best that we can with simple plans.
“It’s gone well for us so far and, hopefully, we have a strong finish.”
After heat cancelled all GMC games on Saturday, BLU’s next contest will be against Echuca South at Bamawm Recreation Reserve this Saturday, February 7, in what is likely a second vs third semi-final preview.
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