Valleys sweeps the trophy pool

THE Valleys A grade cricket side made it a clean sweep of Gympie cricket titles Sunday when it beat Wests by six wickets to take the premiership.

Picture: Codey Warhurst

THE Valleys A grade cricket side made it a clean sweep of Gympie cricket titles Sunday when it beat Wests by six wickets to take the premiership.

Valleys and Wests resumed play on Sunday after wet weather washed out Saturday's play.

Valleys were left a run chase of a 116 on Sunday after Wests, lead by Scott Reedman (87), scored 164 in their second innings.

But a determined partnership by Valleys' Troy Ashton (62) and Bill Tillott (63 not out) frustrated the Wests bowling attack and secured the win for Valleys.

Valleys captain Mal Gear praised the efforts of his two experienced batsmen and the rest of his team in collecting the victory.

“A COUPLE of old heads won it for us on the day, but it was a good team effort all around,” he said.

The premiership win made it a clean sweep for Valleys who also won the one day final and the minor premiership.

Valleys came last in last year's cricket competition and the captain said his team's resurgence came about after the return of some Gold players to the team.

“It was good to go from cellar dwellers to premiers in one year,” Gear said.

“Our batting line up was stronger after the return of Troy Ashton, Craig Whittaker and Shane Walker from the Gold this year.

“We also had a good mix of young and old players.

“It is a good feeling to win,” he said.

Wests' captain Neil McKean was philosophical about the loss saying Valleys were just too strong on the day.

“The top order batsmen did the job, the pitch was good and they were good enough on the day,” McKean said.

“We needed early wickets and they didn't come.

“They are the two best in form batsmen in town at the moment. It was always going to be an uphill battle.”

The Gympie Cricket Assoication gave out its individual trophies Sunday afternoon. Full coverage of award winners will be in tomorrow's The Gympie Times.

Originally published as Valleys sweeps the trophy pool