Warrnambool and District Cricket Association twenty20 semi-finalists decided for 2023

The four contenders finished atop of their pools on Saturday, all unbeaten after three games each.

The semi-finals and the grand final will be played at Reid Oval on January 8 with the winner to progress to the inter-association Sungold Cup.

Port Fairy coach Brian Medew - an advocate for twenty20 cricket - was thrilled with the Pirates' undefeated run after they started the one-day season with five losses to be at the bottom of that table.

The Pirates defeated Koroit, Merrivale and Russells Creek in their twenty20 matches.

"It's been disappointing (in the one-dayers), to say the least, but I think we've been able to re-focus and set ourselves for that (twenty20) competition," Medew said.

"We made a big decision to do that and we trained accordingly for that mode of cricket and it was pleasing things fell into place for us.

"As a coach I really like T20 stuff - you never know if they're going to come off but you can really drill into some plans."

Progressing to the final four will lift spirits around Avery's Paddock.

"We have a huge supporter base and fantastic sponsors so it was great to see a few people in the clubrooms last night smiling about how things had gone," Medew said.

"They just want us to do well so hopefully we put a bit of a smile back on their faces for Christmas."

Medew was rapt to see a higher level of consistency across the board in the Pirates' short-form performances.

"I thought our fielding was pretty exceptional, our bowling improved 10-fold, we bowled good lines I thought and really challenged the batsmen all day and our batting was great in the top order," he said.

"We set good run rates. We don't want to be dotting up anywhere and according to my stats that I take we were in front most of the time."

Openers Max Green and Aaron Williams got starts in all three Pirate innings with the former scoring 48 in round two.

"They opened and basically got 50 (combined on the board) every time and that was pretty handy," Medew said.

"Then everyone contributed through the list and we kept things ticking over which is required for T20 cricket."

Highlights from the weekend's games included another Jack Burnham masterclass.

The Northern Raiders import made 82 against Brierly-Christ Church before the match was called off after 30 overs due to safety concerns with the pitch.

It was the English import's third big total in four innings after making two centuries - in a one-dayer and a twenty20 - in recent weeks.

Allansford-Panmure's Kade Parker (89 and 52) and North Warrnambool Eels' Jack Burke (84 and 50) were models of consistency in rounds two and three for their respective sides while Dennington's Henry Walker, who made a century on Thursday, contributed 62 not out in round two and experienced Brierly-Christ Church batsman Nathan Murphy complied an unbeaten 60 in the Bulls' second game.

In-form Mortlake bowler Clinton Baker took a stunning 5-6 in one of the Cats' games while Allansford-Panmure's Simon Richardson (4-7), West Warrnambool's Joe Douglas (4-10) and Nestles' Tom Smith (4-14) also had memorable days with the ball.

The one-day competition will resume on January 14 with Russells Creek, Nestles, Mortlake and Dennington occupying the top-four.

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