A match-winning partnership from young guns Cameron Tunks and James Moore inspired Combined Independent Schools to an emphatic victory in Thursday’s NSW Primary School Sports Association Boys’ Championship final, the side’s first title win since 2002.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After CIS bowled its powerful Sydney West opponent out for 168, Tunks and Moore lit Wade Park up after coming together at 2-35 in the chase.
They added 110 for the third wicket at almost a run a ball, Tunks smashing 67 from 69 balls and Moore pummeling 50 from 53.
Although they both fell with the score on 145 and then Dylan Melvey (7) was dismissed not long after – giving Sydney West a tiny glimmer of hope – Daniel Gauci (15 not out) made no mistake in finishing the chase off with five wickets and 17 overs in hand.
His glorious cover drive for four secured the win, and sparked raucous celebrations from his CIS teammates on the boundary.
“We’d [won emphatically] all week but obviously finals can be a different beast, so it was good to see the boys produce again under pressure,” CIS coach Greg Clarence said, before lauding Tunks and Moore’s efforts.
“They can both play, and they’d both missed out earlier in the week too, but it’s super impressive to see them do it under pressure, chasing runs in a final.
“But I was impressed with all the boys throughout the carnival, everyone contributed at some point, we were a little bit smaller than others but we got the job done.”
Both sides were undefeated leading into Thursday’s final, Sydney West taking favouritism into the game thanks to an outrageous quotient.
Not that CIS had taken any notice of that.
“You never really know about the other sides because you’re never at their ground and we hadn’t actually seen them play at all, but you do hear a few things,” Clarence said.
“We just worried about what we were trying to do and the boys got it done, so we’re all super happy.”
After Sydney West won the toss and batted Krish Thakur looked in ominous form, smashing the first three balls of the game to the boundary.
But, after a huge LBW shout on the fourth, he was nicked off by Sidhant Singh (1-25) to leave Sydney West 1-12.
Damien Guild (10) and Joel Wright (69) added 30 before the former was caught and bowled by Archie Gowthorp (2-27), and then came a massive moment.
Brock Campbell, who whalloped centuries on days one and two, was bowled by Willoughby Watson (1-11) for just one.
Sydney West lost two more quick wickets to sit precariously at 5-68, but the tail wagged, adding another 100 for the last five wickets to push the side to a competitive 168.
Although, Tunks and Moore made it look anything but.
They came together at 2-35 – Anthony Bartlett (11) and Lachlan Ritchie (7) the dismissed bats – and made light work Sydney West’s attack adding 110 from just 114 balls.
Moore and Tunks were both trapped in front, by Xavier Nath (1-11) and Max Laing (1-11) respectively, with the score at 145.
Gauci and Melvey nudged the score up to 162 before the latter was dismissed though, before the former crunched a drive through the covers to secure victory.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
