Nic Freedman, take a bow.
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With his Centrals-Wanderers in real strife after being skittled for just 110 in last weekend’s Orange District Cricket Association fourth grade grand final, Freedman stepped up to the plate and produced the match-winning effort his side needed with the ball.
Absolutely decimating Spring Hill’s powerful batting line-up at Max Stewart Oval, Freedman finished with stunning figures of 6-25 from his eight overs to not just inspire his side to a win, but an ultimately easy one at that.
The minor premiership-winning Wood Ducks eventually limped to 67, falling well short.
“He had the ball on a string, he was just unreal,” Centrals-Wanderers skipper Gareth Faul said of Freedman.
“We never thought 110 would be enough, we just went out there with a plan to bowl tight and attack and hope really. The boys did that, Nic especially, and we got away with it.”
It was the second time in as many weeks Faul and his outfit had downed the Wood Ducks, doing so the week prior in a must-win game that earned them a grand final berth.
“We knew we could beat them, and we’d had some good fights against Spring Hill during the season,” Faul said.
“But we’d also never really put a complete performance in against them, you know. We’d either bat well and bowl badly or vice-versa.
“It didn’t exactly work out for us with the bat on the weekend but fortunately enough we really put it together with the ball.”
After being sent in by the Wood Ducks Damien Caughlan (5) and Gav Smith (27) put on 28 for the first wicket but after the former was dismissed the wickets kept tumbling.
Only Faul (29 not out) was able to join Smith in passing 20, and only Nathan Gander (16) and Freedman (10) passed double figures outside that.
Kyle Haggar (3-23) was the best of the Wood Ducks’ bowlers while Riley Harvey (2-12) and Andrew Wiegold (2-24) also took multiple scalps.
Centrals-Wanderers’ rout started virtually straight away, when Freedman snicked off Lachlan Harvey (0).
After that he also sent Chris Fieldus (8), Riley Harvey (2), Kyle Cardow (6), Jake Fieldus (0) and Haggar (6) back to the pavilion. After all that, Paul Baker’s (1-20) one scalp and a Smith run out, Spring Hill were dead in the water at 8-48.
Faul (1-6) picked up Carl Morris (5) after a small fightback to make that 9-65 and Smith (1-14) clean bowled Wiegold two runs later to seal the epic, backs-to-the-wall victory.