University of Queensland saluted as the Kookaburra One Day Cup champions, men's and women's grade action continued apace and the Taverners Queensland Under-17 competition is heating up. LAURA SCHEIWE and CAM VELLACOTT take a deep dive into the recent action from the weekend past.
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And just like that, the white ball season is finished for the top two grades and red ball cricket is in full swing! Sunday saw the University of Queensland take out this year’s men’s First Grade One Day Cup, while Norths won the men’s Second Grade title.
After losing the toss and being sent in by the home side Wests, Uni’s Bryce Street and Angus Lovell managed to get their side past 50 before Street was dismissed by a brilliant Steve Paulsen outfield catch. Lovell then carried in his Queensland 2nd XI form, where he scored 250* against Victoria last week, and dominated the Wests attack. Lovell was simply brilliant, scoring 131 off 135 in one of the finest skippers knocks seen in a One Day final. Max Clayton (76 off 87) helped push Uni to 6/312 off their 50 overs. Steve McGiffin (4/60) led the attack for Wests.
In reply, Wests fought hard but the runs on the board and momentum to Uni proved too much. Tom Campbell (63 off 94) and Steve McGiffin (54 off 60) tried to put their side in a position to win, however it just wasn’t the Doggies day. Don Whyte (3/25) and Matt Willans (2/29) were excellent for Uni in conditions where nearly all other bowlers went for more than 6 runs per over. The win sealed University’s first premiership in the format since 2016/17. Interestingly, that match was also played against Wests.
Saturday’s play featured plenty of action, two matches finishing in outright results. After struggling in their white ball campaigns, the Sunshine Coast got their red ball season off to the best possible start. The Scorchers skittled Toombul for the second week in a row to secure a memorable outright victory.
After scoring 143 in their first innings and rolling Toombul for 39, the Scorchers enforced the follow on and were eager from the outset. Chad Soper (7/56) took career best figures, the Papua New Guinea international unplayable on the seaming wicket. Soper took 11 wickets for the match, while Nick Fletcher (2/30) took 8 across the two innings. Toombul were dismissed all out 140 in the second innings, the Scorchers chasing the required runs 2/28.
Norths also managed to secure an outright win after bowling Souths out and chasing the remaining runs quickly. Declaring 9/289, Norths were 209 runs ahead of Souths and had at least 80 overs to bowl. A defiant Zanden Jeh (98 off 127) and Aryan Jain (40 off 62) helped push Souths past Norths total. However, some junk time leg spin from Scott Palombo (2/6 off 5 balls) proved the undoing of the Souths tail. Firstly, a drag down the leg side caught the under edge of Saxon Jeh’s blade and was cleanly taken by the keeper. The next ball, with his confidence up, Palombo bowled a genuine leg spin that dipped in a wrapped number 11 Wegner’s pad – out LBW and Souths all out 259. After Souths looked all but likely to bat out the day, it was all of a sudden Norths win to claim outright. Norths chased remaining runs 3/51.
University had a tight win Saturday against Valley. It was a high quality game of cricket where both sides were right in the contest throughout the match. Valley looked to edge in front through Callum Galvin (52 off 118) and Max Bryant (68 off 88), however Uni managed to continuously strike when needed most. As they often are, Bryce Street (3/27) and Angus Lovell (2/20) were in the thick of the action for the Students.
Valley were again in the box seat with 6 wickets remaining and inside 100 runs to chase. However, Lovell dismissed set batter Collier (32 off 76) before James Lindsay (2/58) quickly took the two next wickets, Valley 7/236. Cam Boyce and Paddy Cotter then took Valley to 7/273, 24 runs away from victory. Street then struck twice in three balls, before Don Whyte dismissed Cotter in the next over, Valley all out 273.
At Redlands, a resilient knock from Stephan Muller (112 off 277) helped salvage his side a draw against the Gold Coast. Set 422 to win, Redlands played for the draw early after being in huge trouble at 5/56. Muller and Drennan (57 off 115) steadied the ship, before Stewart (37 off 75) and Sinfield (7 off 34) saw their side through to stumps. Fionn Hand (3/48) and Zac McDermott (2/67) led the wicket takers.
After winning on first innings last week, Wynnum-Manly batted on to seal the game off from a possible reverse outright. Fast bowler Thando Ntini (50 off 103) impressed with the bat, getting Wynnum to 252. Josh Creevey (5/83) was again impressive for Sandgate and led the bowlers. Sandgate-Redcliffe then batted out the afternoon, finishing 6/180 at stumps.
Wests had a solid win against their western corridor counterparts Ipswich. After setting 227 to win, Wests bowlers came out and dominated the Hornets. Young trio Sean Seaward (4/29), Soham Sane (2/28) and Angus Tolhurst (2/24) left Ipswich all but knocked over at 9/77. The Hornets Harry Sheppard (84* off 97) then went about single handedly blasting his side to victory as he send four over the ropes in quick time. Unfortunately for Ipswich, too much damage had been done early and they were all out 156. Wests finished their second innings 2/84 when the match finished.
The Katherine Raymont Shield shifted gears as the T20 phase of matches continued.
Sunday's first fixture saw the two coast's battle it out in a last over thriller.
Every run counted as Lauren Patterson hit an unbeaten 40 off 45 to guide her team to a total of 97. A slow outfield at Trevor Hohns Oval (Sandgate) saw only 8 boundaries scored across the innings. Two wickets to Alexis Lanskey and a tight spell from Kaleaa Moore (1/2 off 2) helped the Sunshine Coast keep the total under 100.
A new look batting line up for the Scorchers saw a rough start to the innings. Emma Taylor (2/19 off 4) and the Gold Coast's overseas professional - Ava Lee (2/10 off 4) bowled superbly to inflict a middle order collapse. Once Taylor took the prized wicket of ex NZ international Rachel Priest (33 off 31), the Scorchers struggled to fight back. Going into the last over, the Sunshine Coast needed 11 to win proving unsuccessful.
The University of Queensland travelled to Valley's to compete in what is usually a thrilling fixture, although Sunday did not display this. The students continued their good form chasing a sub-par total of 7/109 in just the 14th over. Grace Abdy (31 off 29) was the performer with the bat for Valley's before being runout. The tournaments top wicket taker, Charlotte Atkinson once again had a good match with the ball. The 17-year-old left armer took 3/16 off her 4 overs. UQ chased the total with ease as Emma Jackson continued her solid form striking 59* off just 33 deliveries.
Winning the toss and electing to bat first, Wests were the centre of another low scoring match. Scraping to just 5/107 off their 20 overs, no one had an outstanding performance with the bat. Leading the charge with the ball for Wynnum, Hannah Tucker (2/11 off 4) was both economical and dangerous with her off spin. The Sea Eagles looked unsteady at times throughout their run chase as wickets kept falling but where able to secure the win in the 18th over. Caitlin King (41* off 36) again in the runs averaging 35.8 for the season.
Although having a bye in the morning, Sandgate-Redcliffe came out firing for Sunday's second fixture against Gold Coast. Scoring comfortably the biggest score of the day, 2/166 was always going to be a difficult chase. An opening stand of 160 for Tess Cooper (75 off 60) and Caitlin Mair (64* off 53) included some stunning lofted drives. A consistent bowling display by Mia Croucamp (3/27) and left arm leg spinner, Jess Cremin (2/7) concluded an easy victory.
The in-form University of Queensland became undone against Wests with a good all round performance. Three early wickets again from Charlotte Atkinson was not enough as Lilli Hamilton (44 off 46) and Trinity Doyle (30 off 22) put on a 72 run partnership. This occured after Wests were 2/0 in the first over of the match. Sophie Whittaker also scoring freely making 33* to help her team to 147 runs and a victory.
In the second innings leg spinner, Ayaka Stafford was strong in the wickets column taking 2/24 off her 4 overs. Stafford represented Queensland Under 16s and already holds 26 wickets across all formats this season.
Valleys continued their winless season against Wynnym as they failed to defend 110 runs. Batting first, Meg Jones (28 off 25) was the only real contributer as they scraped to another low total. Wynnum's Hannah Tucker continued to be tight with the ball as she picked up another 2 wickets. The second innings saw a flow of wickets for the Sea Eagles but with not enough runs on the board, there was little Valley's could do to defend their total.
The Taverners Queensland Under-17 competition is nearing its finals phase and The Courier-Mail has provided another indepth look at the action involving some of the competition's most exciting young players, as well as their weekly wrap-up of all the Premier Cricket action.