Western Zone will battle ACT-Southern in a play-off for third at the McDonald’s Country Colts Championship after both sides, disappointingly, lost their final pool matches on Wednesday.
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Riverina’s big win over Illawarra meant Western’s fate was sealed regardless of their result against Newcastle, however they eventually fell by 32 runs in a high-scoring contest.
In the other pool, the clash between Central Coast and ACT Southern was also high scoring, with the Coasties chasing down 253 to win and book their spot in the final.
It means Western and ACT Southern will now meet for third, and Western coach Matt Tabbernor said it is important his side finishes the carnival in style.
“We’ve been a bit disappointing I think, when you consider the talent we have in this side,” he said.
“Looking at us, I don’t think we’re a side that should have won one from three, but we just haven’t put a complete performance together yet.”
On Wednesday, Western captain Ben Knaggs won the toss and elected to field first, but an impressive knock from Josh Claridge put the Novocastrians in the box seat.
He made 112 from 113 balls as Newcastle compiled 9-265 from their 50 overs.
Dubbo quick Henry Railz was the best of the Western bowlers, taking 4-44 off eight overs.
In reply, the Western top order put themselves in positions to match Claridge’s heroics but nobody could go on with the job.
Nick Broes (32), Marty Jeffrey (34), Brock Larance (34) and Tom Atlee (33) all got starts but couldn’t capitalise.
“We dropped Claridge a couple of times, but to his credit he controlled their innings nicely and we needed someone to go on and do the same thing,” Tabbernor said.
“Four of our top five got into the 30s, and we probably needed one of them to make a big score but it just didn’t happen.”
With spots in the NSW Country squad still up for grabs, Tabbernor is hopeful his charges can bounce back in their final match for 2017.
“I’m just going to tell them to rip in one more time and they can then go and have a couple of weeks off,” he said.
“Hopefully some of the guys are in the frame for further rep honours, and the core of this squad has been together for three or four years and it’s probably their last game together.
“There’s plenty to play for but we know that ACT Southern will be hard to beat. They’ve made some big scores this week and have strong batting.”
Tabbernor predicted the final would also be an exciting contest, pitting Central Coast’s talented batting lineup against a bowling attack from Riverina that has been outstanding all through the tournament.
