Led by mercurial seamer Monica Gair the ACT produced a remarkable fightback to win its second consecutive Western NSW Under-15 Girls’ Carnival title on Thursday afternoon, handing hosts Western Zone back-to-back decider defeats as well.
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The ACT was forced to defy an unbelievable showing from Western’s Amy Kreuzberger, the Bathurst-based ace left the visitors seemingly dead in the water after taking a ridiculous 6-5 from 7.3 overs to help skittle them for just 71.
That effort came after she took 5-0 from four overs against Riverina on Wednesday as well, rocketing her to the top of the tournament’s wicket-taking stakes. She finished with incredible numbers of 13-19 from 21.3 overs, 12 of which were maidens, at an average of just 1.46.
But, in little more than 10 minutes, Gair didn’t just bring her side back into the game, she catapulted the ACT into the box seat.
With the new rock in hand she rolled through the hosts’ top order to leave them reeling at 3-9, an early onslaught that included possibly the game’s biggest moment when Gair sent Western skipper Abbie Uhr, also the tournament’s leading run-scorer, packing without scoring.
“I did breathe a sigh of relief when we got Abbie out early, she’d been so good all tournament but copped a great ball from Monica,” ACT coach Bec Maher said.
“I didn’t tell the girls but I didn’t think 71 would be enough … but I did think if we got Abbie early we’d have a sniff. Monica really set it up for us, she took three for bugger all and got us back into the game.”
Maher’s troops didn't take their foot off Western’s throat either, from there the hosts slumped to 4-12, 5-19 and then lost their last five wickets for just 10 runs to be all out for 29.
Katie Letcher did her best to stop the rot, carrying her bat for 11 not out, but Liz Coper-Jones (2-0), Amal Palekar (2-3), Emily Stoker (1-7) and Kallie Gumm (1-0) were ruthless in finishing what Gair started.
Palekar was also excellent with the bat, coming in at 4-24 and making a game-best 21 under plenty of pressure.
“I’m rapt to the back teeth,” Maher said.
I didn’t tell the girls but I didn’t think 71 would be enough … but I did think if we got Abbie (Uhr) early we’d have a sniff
- ACT coach Bec Maher
“Winning’s great, but seeing them all gel together and enjoy the game is the most important thing for me, so it’s all really nice.
“Western were excellent all tournament too, it was a great competition. Abbie missed out [on Thursday] but was great, and Amy was amazing. For an ex-player, it’s great to see all these girls coming through and doing well, I’m stoked.”
Blacktown also scored its second straight title, defeating Parramatta in a topsy-turvy boys’ grand final at Wade Park.
Led by Tehan Jayaweera (67), skipper Manroz Bhullar (36) and Ben Schofield (30) Blacktown posted a more than competitive 194.
Actually, at one stage it looked like an unbeatable score as Parramatta’s top order crumbled, the side was left languishing at 6-53.
It fought though, and hard.
Chaitanya Madala (76) and Adi Rawat (33) put up a huge resistance, adding 104 for the seventh wicket and giving their side a glimmer of hope.
In fact, at 6-157 with those two set and 10 overs left, by rights Parramatta should’ve won.
But then Rawat fell, he was trapped in front by Abhi Dandyan (1-23).
That was ultimately the beginning of the end for chasing side, as Nash came back on a few overs later and promptly took 3-0 to put a stop to Parramatta’s resurgence and finish with stunning figures of 6-27 to boot.
“We’re stoked,” Bhullar said.
“We did come into this game confident, we’ve played Parramatta in rep stuff before so we knew what they’d bring to the table, but we still had to fight hard.
“Chaitanya batted really well in the middle of their innings, so did Adi, but we managed to work our way back into it and then Declan just bowled superbly at the end to finish it off.
“Tehan, he batted really well too. He set us up, got us the big total we needed.”