NYAH District and St Mary’s will meet again in this weekend’s SHDCA grand final, their third battle for a title this season.
They also clashed in the T20 Grand Final and the Kookaburra Cup final in January, The top two teams after the regular season concluded, both sides have booked their spot in Saturday’s showdown following dominant displays with the ball.
Facing Woorinen on their home deck, St Mary’s won the toss and elected to bowl and their skipper’s decision proved effective from the get-go.
Three overs into the match, it was the skipper himself who found the opening breakthrough; Wade October caught by Riley Daniels without score, off the bowling of Nathaniel Holmes-Brown.
October’s opening partner Connor Fletcher kept the scoreboard ticking with some smart running, but when Robin Sebastian bowled Darren Rushton for four runs, the Bulldogs were hungry for more.
Holmes-Brown claimed his second wicket when Fletcher was caught by Wes Harrison for 16 and at 3/22, the Tigers lost two more wickets before surpassing the 30 mark.
Jason Mangiameli was dismissed without troubling the scorers, while Mitchell Uhlhorn was dismissed for seven thanks to an outstretched, one-handed catch from Wes Harrison at mid-off.
The wicket of Mangiameli brought Cooper Fox to the crease, whose patient start to his innings was rewarded once he found his rhythm.
Following Jack Shannahan’s dismissal of Jackson Hughes, Fox was joined by Gurmander Singh and the two set about setting a competitive total, putting together a partnership of 49 runs.
Fox fell first for 60 runs, caught behind by Bailey Codling off Shannahan’s bowling in an innings that included nine fours and a six.
Shannahan cleaned up the lower order, dismissing Gurmander Singh for 25 and finishing off the innings with the caught-and-bowled wicket of Robert Rush for a duck.
His figures of 4/21 off 6.5 overs were only topped by Holmes-Brown, who claimed his second five-wicket-haul in two weeks with figures of 5/51 off 15 overs.
With a total of 124 to chase, St Mary’s didn’t seem to want to hang around in the afternoon sun.
The opening partnership between Jonty Chaproniere and Wes Harrison fell just short of three digits, the pair putting together 99 runs before Chaproniere was dismissed for 59 by Stefan Mangiameli.
That was Woorinen’s only wicket for the day, as an unbeaten 54 runs from Harrison and a 10-run cameo from Jake Foster were enough to see the Bulldogs over the line for the nine-wicket win in under 17 overs.
