THE race for premiership glory narrows after this week’s finals games, with only two teams progressing their finals
campaigns and the rest seeing the end to their 2022/23 season. The New Norfolk Redcaps 7th Grade team is the first team from the Derwent Valley and Highlands area to reach a grand final next week. Let’s see how the other games progressed.
NEW NORFOLK:
1st Grade one-day format – Semi Final 2 (11/3/23): The Redcaps 1 team hosted Wellington in the semi-final at Tynwald on Saturday. Hoping to make amends for the week before, the team held nothing back and put on a massive 347 from its full 50 overs, losing just the five wickets to set a massive target for Wellington. Two centuries kept the Redcaps’ score rolling with Mathew Dance knocking a huge 158 following on from his 100 last week and captain Mathew Bowden finished 121no. Jason Rigby came out with few balls remaining to smash a quick 30 from just nine balls. In the chase, Wellington looked out of the game all innings and finished all out for 220, with Jeremy Nichols and Nathan Rice taking seven wickets between them. The Redcaps 1 team will continue to progress in the finals campaign. Batting: M. Dance 158 from 145, M. Bowden 121 from 98no. Bowling: J. Nichols 4 for 58 from 10, N. Rice 3 for 49 from 7.3.
3rd Grade – Preliminary Final (11/3/23): The 2nd Redcaps team faced of against the new team the Gurkha Legends at Sorell for a chance to progress to the grand final. In short it wasn’t the Redcaps’ day with the Legends taking a six-wicket win. Batting first, the Redcaps finished with another finals round small total being all out for 157. In reply the Legends gained the runs in the 27th over. With the bat, Joshua Nichols made the most runs with 35. Batting: J. Nichols 35 from 68, J. King 34 from 69. Bowling: J. Rowlands 1 for 18 from 6, J. Walsh 1 for 20 from 3.
7 th grade – Preliminary Final (11/3/23): The Redcaps 3 team played Bothwell at Bothwell on Saturday. As the favourite to take out the competition, Bothwell was going to be a difficult team to overcome. As seen last week, finals are a different game and again the underdog has come out on top. Batting first, Bothwell put on 157 from their 40 overs, losing nine wickets along the way which stemmed the flow of runs. Chasing a chance to play in a grand final, the Redcaps batted with some serious form and gained the runs in the 23rd over, losing on two wickets. Captain Jamie Hill put on 66 supported by Azza Triffitt who had 62no. Triffitt also had a good day with the ball, taking two wickets for only 18 runs from five overs. Batting: J. Hill 66 from 63, A. Triffitt 62 from 60no. Bowling: A. Triffitt 2 for 18 from 5, N. Heron 1 for 20 from 8.
GRETNA:
5th Grade – Preliminary Final (11/3/23): Gretna 2 played St Aiden’s for the chance to play in the grand final. Batting first, Gretna was limited to 131, being all out prior to the 40th over being completed. Jake Campbell was the standalone run getter putting on a season personal high score of 48. Campbell was also the best with the ball as well. St Aiden’s was able to chase down the runs in the 36th over with the loss of just four wickets, taking an easy win and the last spot in the grand final. Batting: J. Campbell 48 from 69, J. Whitford 15 from 31. Bowling: J. Campbell 1 for 18 from 7, A. Browning 1 for 21 from 5.
BOTHWELL:
7th Grade – Preliminary final (11/3/23): As mentioned above, the Bucks 2 team hosted New Norfolk for the chance to secure the final spot in the grand final. The game was to fall New Norfolk’s way and end the Bucks, season for this year. Batting first, the Bucks lost wickets at the wrong times which slowed their run rate and had them finish the innings on 9 for 157. The Redcaps’ top four batters covered the runs needed in just 23 overs. Jayson Duffy tried to get the Bucks score up, hitting a personal high score of 52. Batting: J. Duffy 52 from 67, S. Harvey 23 from 22. Bowling: S. Harvey 1 for 25 from 3, C. Osborne 1 for 32 from 5.3.
