Wakely's 70 puts Rovers into form before finals | Photos

Before Saturday, the last time Premier League went ahead was February 6.

At Jim Stirling Oval, Port Pirates won the toss and sent Rovers in with the score 2/27 in the early stages.

Mitch Korn and Jack Wakely joined forces to change the course of the innings with a 92-run partnership.

When Korn was run out for 44 at 3/109, a collapse followed.

Rovers proceeded to lose 7 wickets for 59 runs with Wakely's 70 pivotal in getting his side to 168.

Picking up the four-piece, Rovers kept the opposition to an economy rate of 2 in the first 10 overs before Matt Scott broke through in the 13^th at 1/25.

Port were looking steady at 3/97 before Josh Brenton, off the long run, ripped through.

With three overs remaining, Port needed 37 runs with three wickets remaining.

While the Pirates had a full side on the sideline for support, Rovers welcomed members of their first grade squad on the North-Eastern side of the ground.

Despite the strength of the Rovers bowling squad, tension was present across the field with Pirates big-hitting captain Ben De Braun still at the crease.

However, Rovers final overs effort was a performance that encapsulated the phrase, "winners just win", a quote from a Taree based player about his side's competition performance that brought entertaining Facebook controversy.

Josh Brenton bowled the 38^th over, 1..1.. whack, the sounds of breaking branches cracked across the ground after a six to De Braun.

Brenton then only conceded two runs following that six.

27 runs off 12 balls.

Harrison Nemme bowled the 39^th over with superb execution.

De Braun faced the first two balls before being starved of the strike with some bizarre defensive batting.

The final ball saw De Braun retain the strike and hit a single to face the first ball of Brenton and the game's final over.

24 runs off 6 balls.

First ball - a whack, followed by cheers as captain Jackson Korn took an excellent catch on the cow corner boundary to remove the danger-man.

24 runs off 5 balls - a miracle needed.

Another whack to the cow corner boundary, and fancy that, captain Korn takes another solid catch on the boundary.

Now, with the game essentially sowed up, the next project was on - a hat-trick ball.

Brenton came in, the delivery looked promising from a spectators point of view but whistled just past the off-stump with a bye accompanying the delivery.

Later at a Kempsey establishment, Brenton claimed it was a dropped catch but the jury is still out on that one.

The Pirates finished 9/146, falling well short of the target.

Rovers finished the regular season with a dominant 18 point margin between them and the Pirates at the top of the ladder with only one loss to their season tally.

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