Crown’s winning crusade
Victors, Crown: Back: Brad Pocock,Darren Tapper, Simon Bunyan, Pat Jubb, Nick Miliken, Justin Brown, Montanna Romenzivic.
Front: Ryan Curtis, Alice Caldow, David Caldow, Archie Houston, Dev Clarke.
Final score: Riverina Hotel 58 all out (D Aylett 19, L Whitbourne 11, S Bunyan 5/8, B Pocock 3/17) were defeated by Crown Crusaders 3 for 60 (J Brown 35 not out, D Aylett 2/10).
Hay Senior cricket Grand Final was played between Crown Crusaders and the Riverina Hotel.
Winning the toss, Riv skipper Dean Aylett had no hesitation in electing to bat.
A cautious opening stand was broken in the fifth over.
Sam Marshall was clean bowled by Brad Pocock’s left armers swinging back into him and hitting the pegs.
Liam Whitbourne was joined by Dean Aylett.
The two of them worked hard against some accurate bowling from the Crown’s quicks, as they maintained a full straight length. After seeing off the opening bowlers of Simon Bunyan and Brad, a lapse in concentration from Liam saw him hit a return catch to change bowler Justin Brown off a full toss with the score on 23.
Jason Aylett and Dean then worked hard to build a base for the Riv. They batted cautiously as they got to drinks after over 18, with no further loss, with the game evenly poised, at 2 for 39. In the first over after drinks, David Caldow got Jason pushing at a ball outside off and edging behind to wicket keeper Nick Milliken.
Four overs later Brad Pocock swung a ball back into Dean’s pads to see the ball ricochet into the stumps, and end Dean’s determined innings with the score on 51.
From this point despite Daniel Stewart’s careful batting, Riv lost seven wickets while they added only seven runs.
Brad Pocock and Simon Bunyan tore through the Riv middle and lower order. From a relatively competitive three for 51 the Riv had collapsed to all out for 58.
In reply, Darren Tapper and Nick Milliken started slowly against quality accurate bowling from Liam Whitbourne and Sam Marshall. In the fourth over, Sam struck getting Darren to push a catch straight to Jason Aylett at mid-wicket with the score on eight.
Riv bowlers and fielders then turned the screws, restricting any scoring as the two opening bowlers.
Then Dean Aylett took any scoring opportunities away from Nick and Simon Bunyan, as they bowled eight maidens in ten overs. When Dean got a ball to drop on Nick and he spooned a return catch to the bowler in over 15, the score was on 14 and the Crown had some work to do.
Brad Pocock and Simon got through to drinks with the score on two for 24 after over 18.
However, Dean Aylett, turned a ball out of the rough sharply, catching Brad’s edge and flying to Lily Tassell who took a nice catch at gully.
After over 20, Crown were 3 for 25. While Simon had provided great defence against the bowling, he needed support from the other batsman.
Justin Brown was just the man for the job. He started his innings with a massive six over mid-wicket off Dean Aylett.
He then continued to attack the bowling and in the space of four overs, scoring 35 unbeaten runs and gathering in the 59 needed to win by the end of over 24.
The match, while low scoring was a tense affair with the ball and fielding dominating the batting until Justin Brown grabbed the match by the scruff of the neck.
Special mention to both captains Simon Bunyan, the winning skipper, and Dean Aylett.
Both ensured the game was played in a tough but sporting manner, and also to umpire Laurie Andrews who has done an excellent job stepping up to umpire throughout this season.
The nail-biting match also featured Dave Aylett’s last game, who has been a fixture in the Riv team for many years. At 60 years of age, he is showing everyone that age is no barrier to playing cricket. Fittingly he remained not out in the Riv innings refusing to succumb to the bowling.
