ST JOHN'S Hornets scored a magnificent and unexpected victory in the under-12B grand final last weekend, beating RSL-Colts White to complete a worst-to-first turnaround.
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The young Hornets were in last place just prior to Christmas but came together as a side in the second half of the season and won a very good grand final.
St Johns lost the toss and were asked to bowl on a wet pitch and drenched outfield.
Through an almost Glenn McGrath-like bowling performance from Broden Konz and equally devastating bowling by first-year player Lachlan Davis, RSL found it very difficult to score. Wickets fell and at the halfway stage Colts were 5 for 32.
In came Ruthvic Gundapaneni for Colts and he showed batting beyond his years, scoring 25 not out to help get them get to a respectable total of 96 with the able assistance Tom Peacock and Connor Doran.
It was time for the Hornets to bat and things started well with Hamish Burton and Lachlan Galante handling the barrage of the Colts openers.
John Hallford was asked to bat and, in a David Warner fashion, had the innings of his life, hitting his first six of the year to score 28 retired.
The Hornets had a middle order scare with the introduction of Ruthvic's blinding pace where he took two wickets in succession, with Ethan Maher perhaps getting the ball of the year.
The Hornets however recovered with Paddy Duffus and Joe Yeo to achieve the winning runs with five overs to spare.
Celebrations continued late into to mid afternoon at their sponsors pad 'Hogs Breath Cafe' with the Hornets boys drinking more Red Fire Engines than they should have.
Unfortunately no result was supplied for the under-12A final.
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In the under-14A final CYMS (6-65) beat Newtown (46).
CYMS finished the season as minor premiers, closely followed by Newtown, so this was always going to be a good match, even though it had been shortened to a one day game due to wet weather.
CYMS won the toss and decided to bat on a dewy pitch and slow outfield with Luke Ensor and Nathan Hawke taking up the challenge.
Luke Ensor faced the first ball from Ty Webb and it went high and could have been a catch but resulted in him being run out, caught short up the wrong end of the pitch.
This was not a good start from CYMS but Nathan Hawke settled in with Daniel Duffy and both started to get runs on the board.
A good ball from Kieran Baker had Dan Duffy caught by Marty Jeffrey for five runs and Tom Nelson (7) was out LBW to Kieran Baker. After starting to hit out Nathan Hawke (10) was caught by a brilliant catch by Kain Simpson and CYMS were looking in trouble. However, Will Graham and Samuel Thompson both stepped up and made 13 runs each with some strong grounds strokes to see out the rest of the overs and finish the innings on 65.
Kieran Baker finished with 2-7, Ty Webb 1-6 and Hamish Grant 1-19.
Newtown opened with Marty Jeffrey and Kieran Baker but like CYMS a run out claimed Baker for two runs in the first few overs.
This brought Ben Knaggs to the crease but he looked uncomfortable and Callan Braithwaite bowled him very early on for two runs.
The only other Newtown batsman to put up a fight was Ty Webb who stayed in for quite a few overs but was out caught for six.
CYMS bowled very tightly the whole match and coupled together with two run outs and great catches held a strong position.
Best of the CYMS bowlers were Callan Braithwaite and Will Graham (both 2-5), Nick McGirr (2-9) and Nathan Hawke (1-12).
In the end Newtown needed 20 runs off the last two overs but ran out of batsmen and fell short of the total giving CYMS the win, in a great match by all players which was enjoyed by the large crowd.
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In the under 14B Macquarie (6-141) def RSL Colts (140)
Macquarie won the toss and elected to bat on a very foggy wet pitch.
At the end of day one RSL-Colts were in front and Macquarie were 2-52.
RSL Colts batsman Tom Atlee was sensational with the bat and retired 50 not out but returned to bat and ended the match on 55 not out, giving Tom 370 runs off 11 innings and 17 wickets for the season.
Rhys Beauchamp also batted well to be 25 not out.
RSL Colts bowled well with Sam Bass (3-28 off 6) and Mitch Gough (1-24 off 8).
Macquarie chased the runs down all day and made the total with only 13 balls left in the game.
All in all it was a close game played in good cricket spirit.