INDOOR CRICKET
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HEADING to Canberra for their fourth and final trip this season, Dubbo's Western Stars were determined to make the trip worthwhile, and bring home some silverware.
With both the Men's 1s and Men's 2s playing in knock out semi-finals, it was do-or-die cricket at its very best.
The first round of the day saw the Western Stars take on second placed Queanbeyan Yellow in the Men's 2s.
The Stars won the toss and batted first and got off to a fantastic start.
Dave Glasson and Shaun Swan mixed patience with aggression in compiling a well made 37 opening the batting.
Brendan Powyer and Mitch Grey strode to the crease with all the momentum going their way. Despite making a few mistakes along the way, they finished with 23 and took the score along to 60.
Andrew Walden and Scott Barber were next to bat and had seemingly continued the flow of runs going in the right direction.
With four balls to go, the scoreboard had the Stars on 84, but a nightmare finish to the pair sent Dubbo catapulting back to where they started.
Several mix-ups between the wickets and a miscued shot for a catch, saw four wickets tumble in a row, and the score back to 64 from 12 overs.
Darren Davies and Erik Woolnough came out to a Queanbeyan team who, for the first time in the match, started to click in the field. Despite playing some good shots throughout the innings, they could only muster three for a total of 67.
A total that saw the Stars looking a dishevelled outfit in the field and Queanbeyan took full advantage of the lacklustre effort in the field, finishing comfortable winners.
Although the wheels fell off at the last hurdle the Stars 2s team had already established themselves as a competitive unit.
Men's 1s were down to play the next game against second-placed Tuggeranong Blue.
The much-fancied Tuggeranong team consisted of five current Open Mens national champions from the ACT Rockets squad, two former ACT Opens Mens, and a current over-40s Australian representative and world champion.
The Stars top team won the toss and batted first.
Jordan Peacock and Aidan Bennewith toiled hard against a strong opening attack to put together 16.
Steve Skinner and Tom Barber then put on 28, with Barber particularly impressive, playing in his first final at this level of competition.
Dan Horrocks and Wade Burrowes then compiled an important 24, with Dan French and Justin Knudsen taking the total to a competitive 81, with 13 of their own.
Needing a good start Western turned it on with the ball, keeping the first pair to 16 and the second pair to just two.
Dan Horrocks and Wade Burrowes were the best with the ball, causing batsman all sorts of issues.
The third pair showed intent to be aggressive, but regular wickets meant they could only add 14. This left the last pair needing 50 to win. They went a lot closer than Dubbo would have planned, but in the end fell nine short, 81-72.
Dubbo then lined up to play the top of the table Queanbeyan in the Grand Final. Queanbeyan batted first, and made a very disciplined start, with the first two pairs scoring 18 runs a piece.
The game was in the balance, but Queanbeyan capitalised in the final eight overs, with Dubbo straying away from their plans and the men in blue scoring 30 and 26 to bring the total to 92.
Peacock and Bennewith made a great start scoring 24. But the experienced members of Queanbeyan's team started to fire and reduced Skinner and Barber to just six.
With the heat turned up, Horrocks and Burrowes could also only manage six.
This left 57 runs for the last pair, an almost impossible task in this level of indoor cricket.
The final score read 39-92, not a true reflection on how close these teams really were.
With this being an introductory year to competition of this level the Stars can well be satisfied with the second place result, a huge effort overall.
The experience from this competition will hold the Stars 1s team in good stead when they travel to Inverell to defend their NNSW Super League Champions title.