NYAH District and Woorinen will face off in the Swan Hill & District Cricket Association A Grade Grand Final for the second year in a row, after both clubs had hard-fought semi-final victories at the weekend.
Runs on the board seemed to be the order of the day, as both the Demons and Tigers set their opponents challenging – but not insurmountable totals – to chase for victory. Unfortunately for St Mary’s Tyntynder and Wandella, they both fell short, with their seasons now coming to an end.
For St Mary’s, it was a particularly bitter blow, as they were aiming to become the first team in SHDCA history to claim all three A Grade trophies on offer – having already won the McDonald’s T20 title and Kookaburra Cup premiership this season.
Nyah District captain Ben Shadbolt was full of praise for his side when speaking with The Guardian in the aftermath of his team’s victory over the Saints.
“They were probably the best side all year, even though they finished fourth they were easily the best side – but we just came out with the mindset that we can’t afford to lose this game, we just had to go as hard as we could and get the result,” Shadbolt said.
“Credit to St Mary’s, that’s probably the best game of cricket you’ll see all year – they put up a really good fight and restricted us to 140 and looked like they were going to cruise past our score a couple of times, but just relentless bowling and fielding just got us over the line in the end.”
“Winning the toss and batting first clearly helped that – having runs on the board in a final is always a good position to be, but credit to Charlie (Boulton) and a couple of boys in the middle order who all got starts and just kept the scoreboard ticking over at a crucial point in our innings.”
Youngsters Charlie Boulton (33) and Drew Lloyd (27) top scored for Nyah District, as St Mary’s Tyntynder restricted the home side to 9 for 140, with Nathaniel Holmes-Brown picking up his first five wicket haul of the season.
In reply, the Saints appeared to be cruising to victory at 3-79 and then again at 5-102, but on both occasions Nyah District were able to remove both set batsmen with a matter of balls to change the momentum of the game.
“Cooper Andrews was just fantastic for us – the last two weeks he’s just found his spot and been relentless,” Shadbolt said.
“He’s picked up 10 wickets for 51 runs in 28 overs across the last two games, which is just incredible bowling.”
“It’s a super impressive effort from a young fella who’s still trying to find his groove in A Grade cricket – and I think now he may have found it.”
Andrews would finish the day with figures of 4-20 from 14 tight overs, which included bowling at the death when the game was on the line.
Out at Woorinen it was a similar story, with the home side winning the toss and electing to put the runs on the board.
While the task for Wandella was made all the more difficult with the absence of opening bowler Ryan Barnes due to injury, the home side soon found themselves in early trouble at 5-68 – which was in effect six wickets down following the retirement of Dean Morpeth after a calf injury.
For the second time in three weeks, Darren Rushton would change the course of the game for his team, coming in at number eight and compiling a match-winning 58 not out to get his side to a match-winning 7-160, with Woorinen captain Jason Mangiameli full of praise for Rushton’s heroics with the bat post-match.
“He’s hitting them really well at the moment – there are times when I think maybe he should be batting up the order, but it’s a good spot for him because it gives him a bit of freedom to come in later in the innings when the ball’s not moving around as much and score freely,” Mangiameli said.
A 43-run second wicket partnership between Laine Gibbons (32) and Bohden McKnight (16) would have had the Tigers’ supporters on edge, but they need not have worried, as Guri Singh (2-40) and Stefan Mangiameli (4-34) combined to break the game wide open, as Woorinen took four wickets for just one run to leave the Bombers’ season teetering at 5-56.
“Guri (Singh) was unbelievable, he bowled his 14 overs straight without a break and he probably could have bowled another couple,” Mangiameli said.
“But we decided to bring ‘Rushy’ (Robert Rush) back on and he just swung the momentum back our way with four wickets along with Stefan (Mangiameli).”
“All three of those boys bowled brilliantly and were major contributors in us winning the game.”
Woorinen would go on to bowl Wandella out for 107, keeping them in the running for back-to-back A Grade titles for the second time in the club’s history. But while the Tiger train continues to roll on, there was still cause for concern as to whether their club legend Morpeth would be there next Saturday.
“He just took off for a single early on in his innings and injured his calf – we’re not sure of the extent of it at this stage, but he didn’t take any further part in the game,” Mangiameli said.
“We’ll just monitor him closely this week and see how he goes, but fingers crossed he’s able to get up for the grand final.
“The boys are all pretty excited though, it’s a pretty good feeling to get through to another grand final.
“We haven’t really been playing our best cricket, but we’re still winning games – obviously we need to be a lot better this week against Nyah, but it’s just a great feeling to be back in another grand final, which is what we play all season for.”
A GRADE SEMI-FINAL SCORES
NYAH DISTRICT 9-140 (Charlie Boulton 33, Drew Lloyd 27, Nathaniel Holmes-Brown 5-60, Dom Violi 2-46) defeated ST MARY’S TYNTYNDER 10-127 (Cooper Andrews 4-20, Ben Shadbolt 3-40)
WOORINEN 7-160 (Darren Rushton 58*, Jim Degrigorio 31, Marcus Mangiameli 26, Bohden McKnight 2-20, Daniel Higgs 2-37, Logan Keighran 2-37) defeated WANDELLA 10-107 (Laine Gibbons 32, Brodey Farley 31, Robert Rush 4-30, Stafan Mangiameli 4-34, Guri Singh 2-40)
