KILMORE Cricket Club’s Jacob Bourke had the opportunity of a lifetime on Wednesday afternoon when he represented the Melbourne Renegades in Cricket Victoria’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Senior Men’s tournament at the CitiPower Centre in St Kilda.
The tournament comprised of two Twenty20 matches between a Melbourne Stars team and a Melbourne Renegades team, named after Cricket Victoria’s two Big Bash League franchises.
Both teams won a game apiece and were adjudged joint champions in a competitive afternoon of cricket.
Bourke did not play a significant role in the first game, neither batting nor bowling as the Renegades lost to the Stars by 27 runs, with the Renegades’ 6/148 well short of the Stars’ 4/175 target.
But his role changed significantly in the second game, where he finally scored the chance to both bat and bowl.
Bourke made eight runs off seven deliveries as he tried to help anchor the back end of an innings where teammate Brenden Miller starred, scoring 84 off 50 deliveries, but Bourke went out caught at mid-on looking for quick runs, helping the Renegades make 9/179 off their 20 overs.
With the ball, it was Bourke who made the key breakthrough in the second over, trapping the Stars’ Lachlan Liu in front for a LBW for the Renegades’ first wicket.
But that wouldn’t be Bourke’s last contribution on the field.
With the Stars 3/74 at the halfway point of the innings, Bourke was able to combine with Sam Field for a run out at the non-striker’s end to remove Hudson Morgan, leaving the Stars in tatters, before they finished on 8/151—28 runs short.
Bourke finished with figures of 1/17 off two overs.
