What a week it was for Boorowa Cricket. First the Junior under 10’s and under 12’s brought home their respective premierships and then on Saturday the seniors achieved further Premiership glory with a thrilling two wicket win to claim the Criterion Cup second grade title against the Criterion Shamrocks.
It was a hard fought encounter that was played in great spirit as both these sides proved worthy grand finalists.
The day started in controversial circumstances when play was delayed for an hour after a sprinkler was accidentally turned on in the morning wetting the pitch.
With the warmer weather, the pitch dried out enough for play to commence an hour late however it put both sides in a quandary as to what to do if they won the toss.
Thankfully for Boorowa, skipper Rick Bennett won and decided to send the Shamrocks in on what still looked to be a tacky wicket.
The Shamrocks started steadily reaching 20 in the 6th over before Bennett struck with some good bowling. Despite some tight bowling the Shamrocks got through to drinks with losing another wicket and were well placed at 1/75 after 18 overs.
The batsmen pushed on at a steady rate to be in a solid position at 3/129 after 29 overs and ready to make an assault on the Boorowa bowling attack.
However supported by some excellent fielding the Boorowa bowlers kept there nerve to limit the damage in the batting happy hour of the final overs and claimed regular scalps as the Shamrocks finished on a respectable 7/175 off 35 overs. The innings was shortened to 35 overs due to the delayed start.
The main wicket taker was Rick Bennett with 3/42 whilst Jeremy Hewitt with 2/37 and Russell George with 1/32 were the other wicket takers.
All the bowlers tried hard with Chris Turner and Dennis Watson giving everything they had whilst Chris Dwyer as he has done all summer bowled a magnificent spell conceding just 17 off seven overs.
The fielding may well have proved the difference on the day with Boorowa only putting down two difficult chances.
As always, Joseph Carmody was like lightning around the boundary whilst the super sub Matty Johnston saved crucial runs. Once again Simon Pye was safe as a bank behind the stumps taking two good catches.
Requiring just on five an over wasn’t going to be easy on a difficult wicket but the Boorowa batsmen, coming off some recent solid form, were confident they could get the job done.
Openers Phil Coggins and Russell George showed their intent from ball one determined not to be bogged down and dig a hole for themselves. The put on 37 for the opening stand in seven overs when Coggo played his familiar cut shot once too often to be caught at cover.
This Partnership had laid a platform and Man of the Match Russell “The Muscle” George together with Simon Pye continued to push hard to take the score 1/94 before Pysey was given out LBW for a well made 26 just before drinks.
At 2/100 on drinks Boorowa looked in command however the Shamrocks are a team that never give in and this game had a lot more drama to come.
Shortly after drinks a crucial and controversial LBW decision was made on key batsmen, Ross Gibson who departed for 6. At 3/101 the batsmen, George and Chris Dywer composed themselves adding 53 for the fourth wicket and at 3/154 with nine overs left, the result looked a formality.
However cricket is a funny game and with the loss of three wickets for no runs the Shamrocks had a sniff of victory. Dywer went for 20 soon followed by Chris Turner and the Russell George for a sensation 71.
What was remarkable about this innings was the fact that Russell was a makeshift opener due to the fact that one of the stars of the season, Brendan Shean was on Rugby duties in New Zealand. Russell despatched the ball to all parts but played with much character and composure. At 6/154 and with Jeremy Hewitt and Ricky Bennett still at the crease Boorowa were still favourites, however the dramatic script was still not complete as both departed in the space of an over to leave Boorowa at 8/170 still requiring 6 for victory. Enter the veteran Dennis Watson and Cameron ‘The Iceman’ Johnston. At 8/174, the Boorowa players and supporters were barely able to look. We knew Dennis had won a game from this position already this season, but it was Cameron who, like experienced test veteran calmly despatched the ball to the fine leg boundary. What a batsmen. Victory was complete and the jubilant celebrations commenced.
It was an awesome day for the players made all the more special by the supporters that made the trek over. To all our supporters, the players pass on a huge thankyou. Celebrations continued long into the wee small hours of the next day and many thanks must also go to our sponsors Ronnie and Luwon at the Courthouse hotel.
Special mention must be made of Jill Gibson who put together an amazing collection of photos in a great DVD of Saturday’s match that was replayed many times on Sunday and will be played many times more in the coming years. Her organisational skills have been greatly appreciated this season.
This Friday will see the Young Associations night of nights at the Young PCYC commencing at 7pm. The special guest is none other than Sir Richard Hadlee who for those of old enough is remembered as the destroyer of many International cricket teams in the 80’s in particular.
Details of the local team’s presentation are yet to be finalised but will be in this column next week with a summary of Friday night’s winners.
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