ACT Aces down Wagga Sloggers for place at SCG

Both sides came into the final clash unbeaten, but the Aces bowling attack proved far too potent at Robertson Oval on Sunday.

Set a total of 146 for victory, the Wagga side were bowled out for 98 ending their hopes of a third straight appearance on the hallowed turf.

Captain Kurt Robertson was disappointed with how things finished off.

“We probably bowled as well as we could have, they were probably looking at 160 to 180 at one point, and to peg them back to 140 was a pretty good effort,” Robertson said.

"I don't think we could have done much more there but unfortunately we had our worst batting performance in a game where we really needed to bat better."

Putting it down to a bad day, things couldn’t have started worse for the side when the in-form Brayden Ambler (1) was run out early.

Smeeth (17) was next to go before a costly collapse.

Ethan Bartlett struck twice in his only over, removing Joel Robinson (2) then Robertson (0) as the Wagga side lost 5-18 to see their SCG dream slip away.

Aaron Maxwell was the mainstay of the innings, putting on 29 with James Richards (6) before being removed for 33.

However it wasn't enough as they went down by 47 runs.

Robertson didn’t think anything went right in the run chase.

"You get run outs in Twenty20s and it was just unfortunate and it started a little bit of a collapse,” he said.

"There was a few wickets in a row which didn't help and put us on the back foot pretty early.

"Nine times out of 10 we would have batted better than that, but we just had a bad day with the bat and that's cricket."

While it wasn’t to be for the Sloggers it was a happy return to the city for former teammate Bartlett.

The former Wagga RSL player starred with a century to guide the Sloggers to victory two years ago, but now heads to the SCG with the Aces.

After a washout ended their hopes last season, Bartlett was pleased for the side to go through to the next stage for the first time in the four years of the competition.

“Coming down the aim was to get through to the SCG and the final round so it was good,” Bartlett said. “It’s a pretty good achievement.”

Rhys Healy led the way for the visitors scoring 68, after making 44 not out and 21 in his other two bats, while Scott Murn finished unbeaten on 42.

Another former Wagga player, Djali Bloomfield took six wickets across the weekend with Bartlett claiming five.

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