West Cricket Club maintained their stranglehold on the men’s cricket competition this last weekend, taking home both the A and B Grade men’s premierships, on what was a tough day for North Broken Hill Cricket Club.
The Bulldogs, who have been fantastic in all grades this season, came into Grand Final day with three opportunities to add some silverware to their trophy cabinet. Unfortunately for the blue and white clad members of the club, they came up empty handed.
We spoke with North’s A-Grade captain, Tobias Hack, and asked him to reflect on the season as a whole.
“Obviously it is tough when you lose a Grand Final. I feel like we had one of those days where some of the luck just didn’t go our way,” Mr Hack said.
The North captain went on to detail his hope that the disappointment will fuel the fire of the talent laden squad for a tilt at the 2023/24 premiership.
“To have all three grades in the Grand Final is really good. It is great from the clubs point of view that the success is shared nicely throughout all the grades. It is disappointing that we don’t come away with a premiership, but the hope is it makes everyone hungrier for next season.”
On the other side of the coin, it was jubilation for a West Broken Hill side that has added more premierships in both the A-Grade and B-Grade competition.
Early order collapses were the theme of the day in the A-Grade with both sides’ top orders struggling with the occasion.
Max Everuss and Matthew Handberg came together for West with a match winning sixth wicket stand of 45. Handberg also had a fantastic game with the ball, picking up three wickets in a man of the match performance on Grand Final day.
“Max always does it for us in the finals. He did it last year and this year he has done the same thing. He and Matty Handberg just batted really well in a good partnership that we definitely needed,” West captain Mackenzie Attard told the Barrier Truth.
“Our top order didn’t really give us the start we wanted, but I just want to mention Tom Burke. For a 19-year-old to show the maturity that he did in the Grand Final was phenomenal.”
Over at Norm Fox Oval where the same two sides were playing off in the B-Grade final, again North won the toss and elected to bat and looked to be flying after opener Dwayne De Vries scored a half century at more than a run a ball.
Unfortunately for North, Dwayne was playing somewhat of a lone hand, as his teammates failed to really trouble the scorers, with a 20 run innings from vice-captain Dunstal Hibberd the only other meaningful addition to the scorecard.
It was the top of the West batting order that laid the foundation for their success on the day. By the time Matthew Adams and Lachlan Kaye had made their way back to the club house they had, along with Liam King who high scored with an unbeaten 30, 79 runs on the board and were coasting to another premiership.
A late flurry of wickets came too late for North, as West reigned supreme yet again.
“I couldn’t be any prouder of the boys. It is a really special thing that we have done.”
