From the very first ball of Thursday’s Western NSW Under-15 Girls’ Carnival grand final at Kinross Main Oval it looked to be Amy Kreuzberger’s day and the young Western Zone all-rounder absolutely made the most of it.
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She took a wicket with that first ball, clean bowling Gordon Red skipper Lauren Kua, and then led Western Zone’s chase with an unbeaten half-ton from first drop, inspiring the side to a maiden title.
Kua was Kreuzberger’s sole wicket as she finished with 1-15 from seven overs and while there was no denying its importance, her composed dig of 61 not out proved the decisive factor as Western knocked off the 102 needed for victory with four overs and five wickets in hand.
The win completed an unbeaten campaign for the Alana Ryan-coached outfit, and also went a long way to erasing the anguish of their consecutive grand final defeats in the two summers prior.
“It was pretty special, we’ve had opportunities before so to win is good,” Bathurst’s Kreuzberger, who co-captained the side with Broken Hill’s Katie Letcher, smiled.
“It was a bit nerve-racking at the start but once I got going it was good.”
Maddison Spence starred with the ball for Western, taking 3-11 as Gordon Red posted 9-101 from their 40 overs, of which Ciara Gibson accounted for 47.
Kreuzberger entered the fray early when Belinda Kidd was trapped in front without scoring, she and Letcher (15) took the score to 30 before the latter was dismissed.
That’s when the Bathurst gun took it on herself to take control of the chase.
Callee Black (4), Amy Maslin (3), Spence (5) and Aimee Longhurst (4 not out) provided great support as Kreuzberger worked her way past 50, eventually securing the win by crunching a square drive to the point boundary.
The whole time she had a pretty simple plan, too.
“Block them on the stumps, then smash the others,” she laughed.
Letcher and Ryan were both over the moon with the victory too, and were happy to admit they entered the clash nervous after only accounting for Gordon Red by nine runs earlier in the week.
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“I was so nervous going to bed [on Wednesday] night and then after I got out, I was just hoping so I’m stoked we got there. The girls played so well, it was thoroughly deserved,” Letcher said.
“We’ve played in two finals and lost them both, so it was good to get up and get the win. (The message) was just to have fun, and use the confidence and momentum we had.”
It was pretty special, we’ve had opportunities before so to win is good.
- Western's grand final hero Amy Kreuzberger
“That was nerve-racking, it was a close game,” Ryan said.
“Amy played exceptionally, she was very smart and definitely helped us win that game. All-round the girls worked together. After making the grand final two years in a row and losing, third time lucky I guess, but I think that makes it a little bit sweeter.”
In the two girls’ minor finals Penrith (145) defeated Gordon Blue (80) and ACT Blue (4-153) took down the Western Invitational XI (110).
In the boys’ final at Wade Park Bailey Tebbutt played the role of match-winner for Penrith, as his side claimed the title with a win over the North West Sydney Hurricanes.
After coming to the crease at 3-80 following the dismissal of day three centurion Aiden Kells, who defied exhaustion to make 43, Tebbutt went to work.
He eventually finished with 78 of his side’s 7-234, his dig coming from just 79 balls and acting as an anchor a couple of vital partnerships.
First, he added 51 for the sixth wicket with Connor Potter-Jugocav (31) and then 65 for the seventh with Blake Jones (25 not out).
It looked a formidable target considering the Hurricanes hadn’t passed 200 all carnival – although, they were forced to chase in two of their three preliminary wins – and while they looked on track at 3-107, it proved too big a mountain to scale.
Aathan Arunaharan (53) made inroads early and Gurnish Sarai (41 not out) toughed it out virtually from go to woah, but strong efforts with the ball from Kade Camwell (3-28) and Jones (2-35) in particular strangled the Hurricanes.
They eventually fell 81 short of victory with 154.
In the boys’ minor finals ACT Blue (6-144) defeated Dubbo (143), Mitchell (4-125) finished on a high by taking down Wagga Wagga (5-124), Illawarra (8-186) beat out Sydney Academy (157), Blacktown (3-128) accounted for South Coast (125) and ACT Yellow (9-81) edged home against Mosman (79).
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