Teenage NSW tearaway Patrick Cummins’ star continues to rise, ripping through the Tasmanian top order to book the Blues a spot in the Twenty20 final and a trip to the Champions League.
In a match reduced to 17 overs per side, Cummins took 4-16 against a home side that never looked settled, eventually crumbling to be all out for just 103.
It left 17-year-old Cummins, who regularly bowled at more than 145km/h, with a series-best 11 wickets in a remarkable start to his state career.
The Blues then chased down the total with relative ease, reaching their target for the loss of just one wicket and with more than four overs to spare.
Dave Warner led the way with the bat, blasting 70 off just 49 balls, including a six which travelled a massive 122 metres and out of Bellerive Oval.
NSW will now take on South Australia in the final in Adelaide on Saturday and will also compete in the lucrative Champions League in India later in the year.
But the news wasn’t all rosy for the Blues, with star batsman Usman Khawaja coming off the field with a hamstring injury.
Tigers skipper George Bailey may have regretted his decision to bat on a pitch livened up by rain.
Opener Mark Cosgrove, who came into the game under an injury cloud, was the first to go when he played a Stuart Clark ball onto his stumps for a duck.
Cummins then entered the fray, removing Rhett Lockyear (10) when he was caught at mid-off by Dominic Thornely.
He then clean-bowled Ed Cowan for 4 and had Jon Wells caught at point by Ben Rohrer for 10.
Bailey and Travis Birt then combined for the only partnership of significance for the Tigers, but it ended when Bailey holed out in the deep for 18.
Birt was the highest scorer of the innings with 22.
Dutch all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate (10) was desperately unlucky when he was found short of his ground at the non-striker’s end by a brilliant throw from Scott Coyte.
Cummins then had Jason Krejza (11) caught and bowled to complete an impressive performance.
Cummins, who was named man of the match, said he was eyeing off playing the longer formats later in the season.
“At the moment, I’m happy to get a couple of opportunities to play here and there while some of the others are out.
“Definitely, Shield and Test cricket are where the real battles are. I’m definitely looking at those forms of cricket.”
Cummins, who doesn’t turn 18 until May, said he was starting to feel comfortable at state level.
“I think I was pretty tense in that first game, but after that I relaxed a little,” he said.
“The squad has been really good to me. They’re a great bunch of guys and they’ve helped to relax me into it.”
Bailey said his side was never in the game after starting poorly.
“Being 4-20 or 5-40 just puts you behind the eight ball,” he said.
“And in this form of the game, it’s hard to fight your way back into it.”
But Bailey said he was proud of what his side had achieved, particularly playing without star spinner Xavier Doherty and keeper-batsman Tim Paine for most of the season.
“We had a real focus on improving how we play this form of the game and I certainly think we’ve done that,” he said.
“We gave ourselves a chance to make the finals … We certainly didn’t play our best tonight, but we’ve certainly made some progress.”
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