After six rounds of 45-over cricket, it’s time for the fireworks to begin across the Wangaratta and District Cricket Association.

From this week, the A grade and A reserve competitions will move away from the one-day format and play a quickfire T20 competition before the end of the year.

Teams have four matches to prove they’ve got what it takes, with only the top two sides advancing to the grand final on 20 December.

Ovens Valley United A grade skipper Seamus Phillips said the side was looking forward to continuing their fine form in a more condensed format.

“We’ll have a few changes, we’ll go about it a little bit differently, but not much though,” he said.

“The way we bat in the one-dayers will transition into the T20s pretty easily.

“We’ll obviously need to go a bit harder, but not much will change.

“Bowling-wise, our bowlers bowl really well under pressure, they work really hard to limit boundaries and just build up dot ball pressure.

“In T20s, nothing really changes in that aspect.”

The Tigers are at home for the first week of the T20 competition, hosting City Colts and Beechworth Wanderers in a double header Saturday at McNamara Reserve.

The change-up to the calendar comes after Ovens Valley United closed out the first half of the one-day season with an away win against Yarrawonga Mulwala.

The Tigers secured a 77-run win over the Lakers, posting 8/186 from their 45 overs before rolling the home side for 109 inside 33 overs.

Batting first, it was a composed and shared effort with the willow, with the top four all getting starts.

Phillips himself notched up a run a ball 37 before he was run out, Geeth Alwis slapped 35 from 33, and Daniel Saville and Noah White both made 18.

While there was a hiccup in the middle order, with Ben McMasters and Dylan Bursill both not impacting the score, a handy 36 from Connor Forde and contributions from the tail end saw the Tigers post a competitive total.

“We just wanted to bat our 45 and we knew we’d get a decent score to defend,” Phillips said.

“We got off to a pretty solid start then just had a mini-collapse in the middle.

“We know we’ve got enough talent to bat around Geeth – he’s not going to make runs every week, so we know we’ve got to step up and find form ourselves.”

It was going to be tough at times with the ball, but Joe Monk found the early breakthrough, trapping Ben Welsh LBW for one.

Some quick glovework from Nick Impink stumped the dangerous Matt Knight cheaply, and while Brock McCabe (59 from 91) provided some resistance, but no other Yarrawonga batter could stand up to the power of the Tigers bowling battery.

Michael Elliott (4/21 off 8.1) and Noah White (2/27 off seven) ripped the heart out of the middle and lower order, while Geeth Alwis (2/14 off eight) was as economical as ever.

“We knew if we just bowled how we’ve bowled all year, we’d create 10 chances,” Phillips said.

“We used the scoreboard pressure, and knew if we took our chances it’ll go a long way in winning that game.

“I think everyone bowled pretty well – Mick Elliott, to bowl eight or nine straight, only concede 20-odd runs and take four wickets was pretty good considering he hasn’t bowled much this year.

“He stood up really well when it counted.”

Ovens Valley hosts City Colts from 12.30pm and Beechworth Wanderers from 4pm at McNamara Reserve this Saturday.

The Tigers will resume their one-day campaign sitting second overall, and will take on Rovers United Bruck away on 10 January.