Blacktown is one win away from a second consecutive Western NSW Under-15 Boys’ Carnival title after thumping Wagga Wagga in Wednesday’s third round to remain undefeated and wrap-up a spot in Thursday’s decider.
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They’ll have to get past fellow Sydney-based side Parramatta to claim that title though.
Parramatta also went through the first three days undefeated, setting up a grand final battle of epic proportions at Wade Park, Orange’s home of cricket, on Thursday.
Following wins over ACT and Shoalhaven, Blacktown finished its preliminary campaign with a six-wicket shellacking of Wagga.
Abhijeet Dandyan (4-12) led the way as Blacktown skittled Wagga for 75, before Tehan Jayaweera (35 not out) anchored the chase.
Meanwhile, Parramatta took care of the ACT to shore up a final spot.
Mitchell, the hosts, also finished undefeated but narrowly missed out on the decider on quotient. Parramatta’s finished at 1.05 while Mitchell’s was 0.98.
The Black Caps accounted for Western Sydney by eight wickets on Wednesday to stay unbeaten, thanks to a magical spell from skipper Hugh Middleton.
The tweaker finished with 5-13 from his seven overs and achieved the rarest of feats, a hat-trick, in that as well, as Western Sydney crumbled for 68.
Cooper Brien (28 not out) made sure Mitchell cruised home.
Dubbo was also in the decider mix heading into Wednesday’s third day, but suffered a surprise loss to Wakatipu High School to fall out of the title race.
Wakatipu had Dubbo reeling at 8-57, before the Macquarie Valley side’s tail wagged and pushed the total up to a still meagre 92.
The Kiwis breezed home, winning by five wickets.
In Wednesday’s other boys’ games Shoalhaven edged home over Manly-Warringah by two wickets and Orange’s invitational XI took care of St George by five wickets.
Western Zone heads into the girls’ final brimming with confidence after Bathurst’s Amy Kreuzberger led the side to a third straight win.
Opening the bowling, Kreuzberger took an incredible 5-0 from her four overs to help Western roll Riverina for just 27, an innings that included seven ducks.
Western won by 10 wickets, in just over six overs.
Western will face ACT in the final, the latter side defeated Penrith to also stay undefeated.
Gordon was the third undefeated girls’ side, they took care of Brisbane North on Wednesday, but missed out on the final on quotient.
The gap between second and third was substantially bigger in the girls’ tournament, compared to the boys’ though.
All on 21 competition points, ACT topped the standings with a quotient of 3.62, with Western second on 2.88. Gordon was a way back in third, with 1.30.
Ciara Gibson (39) and Alexandra Bull (23) were Gordon’s best as it made 128, with Brisbane North skipper Kiara Johnson-Wood taking 5-18 in a superb spell.
After slumping to 5-21 in reply, Mia Ryan (38) and Tallulah Paul (24) added 74 for the sixth wicket, and looked likely to lead the Queenslanders to their first win of the tournament.
Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, both fell with the score on 95 and Brisbane North only managed to make it to 108 after that.
All of Thursday’s finals and play-offs kick-off at 9am, the boys’ decider is at Wade Park and the girls’ is at Kinross Main Oval.
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.
