CRICKETERS Arms Journeymen and Christie's Crackerjacks will meet in Friday night's McDonald's Megahit semi-final after both sides scored convincing wins in their final matches of the regular season last week.
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There was plenty of big-hitting in the double-header at No.1 Oval as the Journeyman booked their spot in the semis with an eight-wicket win over Rugby in the opening contest.
Led by an unbeaten 80 from Greg Buckley the Journeymen wasted little time in chasing down Rugby's total of 6-128, which has been set up by a fine 61 from Nathan Munro.
With Newtown safely in the grand final and the Journeymen assured of one semi-final position it all came down to the Crackerjacks' clash with the Castlereagh Hornets.
The scenario was simple - a Crackerjacks win would catapult them into the semis while a Hornets victory would give Rugby another crack at the Journeymen.
With plenty at stake, Crackerjacks skipper Keiran Brien came out firing.
He belted nine boundaries and four sixes on his way to an impressive 88, and combined with fellow opener Ed Haylock (30) for a 119-run opening stand.
The damage wasn't restricted to the field though, as one of his sixes shattered the back windscreen of a vehicle parked on the fenceline as well as cracking the front windscreen.
That opening stand combined with a valuable 33 not out from Ian Marchant helped the Crackerjacks to a score of 5-189, although the Hornets would have been happy with that as they looked in trouble when the score was 0-114 at the half-way point of the innings.
While all of the Hornets bowlers copped some punishment, Tristan Ward had the best return with figures of 4-34 off his four overs.
It was going to take a special knock for the Hornets to chase the target and after Josh Williams (16) and Michael McCarthy (12) fell early Asher Robins took it upon himself to play that innings.
He made a blistering 48 from 12 scoring shots that included four sixes and three boundaries and for a period looked as though he could single handedly win the match for his side.
Nathan Reichelt (2/7) eventually claimed Robins as he tried to clear the fence one more time, and while Adam Wells (20) and Joel Johnston (32no) tried their best, the Hornets would eventually fall 23 runs short of Crackerjacks' total on 7-166.
