The Country Thunder Tornado fell just short of State Challenge glory on Thursday, going down to the Metro Sixers Dunes in the final of the under-13s competition.
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Dubbo’s Tom Coady again starred, top-scoring for the Tornado with a classy 79 but his knock was overshadowed by a brilliant 87 not out from Dunes star Ethan Jamieson.
Jamieson led his side to victory, the Dunes passing the Tornado’s impressive total of 8-179 with 2.3 overs left.
While disappointed to see his side lose after being 3-133 at one stage, Tornado coach Garth Dean was still pleased with his side’s efforts through the week and was excited about the potential in the combined Western Zone/ Riverina squad.
“There’s some impressive performances. Tom Coady’s 79 was good and some of our frontline bowlers like Fergus Cattanach and Tom Lynch bowled well so there’s lots to look forward to in the next 12 months as they go into the 14s,” Dean said, before speaking about the final.
“It was a high standard game. We made 179 which we knew was a good score but early on we thought we might be able to make 220 and probably somewhere around 200 was what we needed.
“There was a big parntership between Tom and Harry Bayliss again but we lost a bit of momentum towards the end of our innings and left it 20 runs short.
“With the bowling we started a bit loose and they got off to a flyer and were 30 after the first three or four overs and we were always playing catch-up.
“But to push it was a fair effort but I’d say they (Dunes) were the better team on the day. It was a big chase.”
The Tornado 13s fought hard to make the final, winning three four matches earlier in the week to make the decider. Dean pointed to the hard-fought four-run win over the Metro Thunder Cyclone in Tuesday’s round of Twenty20 matches as a real highlight and a crucial game for his side.
While Coady was one of the stars of the State Challenge, fellow Dubbo junior Patty Nelson was also a solid performer for the Tornado and chipped in with a handy 15 in the final.
The total of 6/179 was a strong one, with the 88-run partnership between Coady and Parkes young gun Harry Bayliss (30) the highlight.
Darcy Mooney (2/38) was strong for the Dunes while Matthew Woods claimed 1/13 from seven.
In reply, Bathurst quick Lynch struck early to have the Dunes 1/22 but after that Jamieson and Ben Crawford took the match away from the Tornado.
Crawford made 44 before also falling to Lynch (2/37 from 7.3) but with Jamieson still there the Dunes controlled the match and scored a seven-wicket win.
Coady finished just behind Jamieson on the overall run-scorers chart.