A STERLING triumph over a lively Benalla Bushrangers squad has delivered top spot on the one-day cricket ladder and a home grand final for Wangaratta Magpies.

Wangaratta put 7/218 on the scoreboard at the Showgrounds before restricting the Bushrangers to 8/173 by the end of their 40th over.

It was a comprehensive batting effort, with the vast majority of Magpies finding a start.

Cooper Matheson (32 off 27) and Jack Davies put up 47 runs before Matheson was knocked over, with Jimmy Thewlis not making much of an impact before he was back in the sheds.

Oliver Andrew (45 from 64) looked promising but a mix-up saw him run out, while Fraser Ellis (37*), Kyle Winter-Irving (26) and Dean Simmons (26) pitched in with the willow.

Matheson said they could’ve made even more runs on a very batting-friendly surface.

“In the batting department, we batted unreal,” he said.

“We probably left a few runs out there but everyone that batted, apart from Jimmy Thewlis, everyone got a start, a 30 or 40, but no one went on with it.

“Ollie was a bit stiff, getting run out, but that’s cricket.

“He was barbecued, he basically ran four - he got to the other end and Fraser sent him back, he had to come back and nearly got home.

“Fraser is just very good value - because he hasn’t fully committed this year, he’s not thinking about his cricket as much, he’s just going out there, seeing the ball and hitting it.

"He just adds a whole other dynamic to our batting lower down the order.”

Benalla’s Brayden Stepien had loomed as a major threat all season, but had only managed 61 runs from five matches, until last week’s 42 from 32 signalled he was on the up.

Stepien strode to the crease and began a barrage of pure power hitting and class, clobbering 90 from 73 deliveries with 12 boundaries.

“He batted unreal, it’s been a while since I’ve seen someone bat the way he did on the weekend,” Matheson said.

“We had no answers for him, we were just hoping he’d hit it down someone’s throat.

“He went about it very well, and put us on the back foot very early – they were 0/33 after three overs and we were a bit lost in the first five overs in the field.

“We set our fields and bowled to them, slowed them down a bit and put the pressure back on them.

“He was our main wicket, once we got him it set us up to win.”

Winter-Irving was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with 2/22 from his eight overs.

The result means the Magpies finish on top of the one-day ladder, and will host the one-day grand final at the Showgrounds on Sunday, February 2, against rivals Rovers United Bruck.

“It’s a huge result for us from where we thought we were going to be at the start of the year to where we are now,” Matheson said.

“We’re pretty pumped about it.

“At the start of the year we said if we were going to get some silverware with anything it’d probably be the one-dayers, they suit us the most.

“Hopefully we can get the job done in a couple of weeks.”