Brad Chard, Bob McKenzie star in Tucabia Copmanhurst grand final win
Tucabia Copmanhurst broke the drought when they were crowned Clarence River Cricket Association’s GDSC Premier League champions for 2020/21.
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The drinks have been pouring at the Ulmarra Hotel for the GDSC Premier League grand final win that was long overdue for Tucabia Copmanhurst.
In a season disrupted by drought-breaking rains, the cricket club broke its own frustrating run of outs which included finishing runners up in six of the past seven seasons.
Related: Clarence River Cricket grand finals in pictures
Not since 2013 has the club raised the major trophy aloft. On that occasion Bob McKenzie was captain and he took the winning catch to defeat Harwood by three runs.
A few years prior to that he scored a match-winning century in a grand final, so it should read as no surprise that the veteran was influential in his side’s six-wicket victory against Brothers Clocktower Hotel in the 2021 decider at Ellem Oval on Sunday.
But after a quick glance at the stats sheet few would have predicted big Bobby would be the man of the moment throughout the finals series. Prior to the finals, McKenzie had scored just 82 runs at 9.11 with a top score of 23 back in round four.
But the experienced campaigner delivered when it mattered most, hitting 61 not out in rain-affected semi-final against GDSC Easts-Westlawn Crown Hotel before guiding his side home and beyond with 53 runs in the grand final.
“I wasn’t batting the best up til Christmas, but I felt things were starting to slowly fall in place and it come together at the right time,” McKenzie said.
“It’s the one day you want to perform and do your part for the team and help bring the chocolates home. I’d certainly put this fifty up with my hundred 15-odd years ago.
“It was a bit different. I probably blazed away a bit more then. This time I was more patient. “It’s probably not how people associate batting with Bobby McKenzie. In both games time was on our side and time was a big factor in everything.”
Chard drives the final nail in the coffin
McKenzie was at the crease with Rohan Hackett (39) when Tucabia passed Brothers’ first innings total of 102. When he was dismissed to take the score to 9 for 145, there was still a faint hope Brothers could bat again in pursuit of an outright result.
But the player of the grand final, Tucabia captain Brad Chard, proceeded to put on a 65-run 10th wicket partnership with Taine Riley (20) to bury any hopes of an outright result for Brothers, who conceded defeat when Tucabia was finally all out for 210 off 97.2 overs.
“That was massive,” McKenzie said. “The difference between them sending us back out to bowl and having a drink now.”
Chard finished 47 not out, to go with his devastating figures of 5 for 38 off 16.1 overs with the ball on Saturday.
“Our boys, we had our ups and down but we always show up for the big one,” Chard, a man of few words, said after the game.
Brothers captain Jake Kroehnert was gracious in defeat and congratulated Chard and his team on a superior performance.
“When they were on about 130, 140 the intention was to always get those few wickets and come out and bat, but towards the back end there it was to morally not let them bat 100 overs and get them all out,” Kroehnert said.
“We were coming in this morning very confident and a couple of decisions could’ve gone either way, and it was a closer game than the scorecard suggests, but definitely we were beaten by the better side on the day, there’s no doubting that. Just their experience showed like it often does in big games.
“That was a real good dig from Bob, showed his experience there, he definitely is a big game player, and we learnt the hard way today.
“Brad Chard is also a big game player. When he swung around and bowled from the other end he was a real handful, hitting that spot that was doing a bit.
“The wicket did a lot in that one particular area, but you had to be a good enough bowler to use it, and Chardy was. He made it very difficult to bat, and he does on a good wicket, let alone a wicket with something in it, so he was a big part of their win.”
Despite the setback, Kroehnert was confident his side will bounce back strong in 2021-22.
“It’s a good young side, we retain most of the players that we’ve got this year as well,” he said. “We lose a couple here and there to uni or retirement.
“But overall winning’s a bonus, we just enjoy getting on and playing cricket. A win would be a bonus but it didn’t happen today, so congrats to the Tucabia crew.”
CRCA CHAMPIONS OF THE LAST 10 YEARS
(Runners up in brackets)
2021 Tucabia Copmanhurst (Brothers)
2020 South Services (Tucabia Copmanhurst)
2019 Brothers (Tucabia Copmanhurst)
2018 Harwood (Tucabia Copmanhurst)
2017 Harwood (Brothers)
2016 Harwood (Tucabia Copmanhurst)
2015 Harwood (Tucabia Copmanhurst)
2014 Harwood (Tucabia Copmanhurst)
2013 Tucabia Copmanhurst (Harwood)
2012 Harwood (South Services)
CLARENCE RIVER CRICKET ASSOCIATION
GDSC PREMIER LEAGUE
Grand Final
BROTHERS CLOCKTOWER HOTEL v ULMARRA HOTEL TUCABIA COPMANHURST
At Ellem Oval, March 27-28
Umpires: Bruce Baxter, Tony Blanch
Scorers: Judy Disson, Ann Chard
Toss: Brothers
Brothers 1st Innings
Kallen Lawrence (wk) c McKenzie b Chard 0 (3)
Beau Sevil b Hackett 3 (20)
Jake Kroehnert (c) c McKenzie b Chard 13 (56)
Eli Fahey c Pigg b Chard 18 (45)
Jamie Firth lbw Ellis 16 (34)
Jack Weatherstone c and b Bultitude 15 (48)
Sean Walters c Dougherty b Pigg 7 (40)
Jordan Newman c Bultitude b Pigg 11 (25)
Bill Weatherstone b Chard 5 (11)
Andy Kinnane c Cootes b Chard 2 (27)
Ethan Lucas not out 2 (10)
Extras (w1, b5, lb4) 19
Total: 102
Overs: 53.1
FoW: 1-1(K Lawrence) 2-9(B Sevil) 3-35(E Fahey) 4-38(J Kroehnert) 5-61(J Firth) 6-78(S Walters) 7-82(J Weatherstone) 8-90(B Weatherstone) 9-96(J Newman) 10-102(A Kinnane)
Bowling: Brad Chard 16.1-4-38-5, Rohan Hackett 8.1-4-10-1, Taine Riley 6-2-11-0, Matthew Pigg 16-7-19-2, Andrew Ellis 4.5-1-7-1, Tim Bultitude 2-0-8-1.
Tucabia Copmanhurst 1st Innings
Derek Woods c Lawrence b J Weatherstone 1
Matt Dougherty b B Weatherstone 8
Tim Bultitude c Lucas b Kinnane 5
Matthew Pigg c Kroehnert b Kinnane 19
Rohan Hackett b Lucas 39
Bob McKenzie c Newman b Lucas 53
Andrew Ellis c Kroehnert b Lucas 2
Daniel Cootes b B Weatherstone 2
Travis Anderson c Lucas b Kroehnert 6
Brad Chard not out 47
Taine Riley c Newman b Walters 20
Extras (nb1, w2, b3, lb2) 8
Total: 210
Overs: 97.2
FoW: 1-2(D Woods) 2-12(M Dougherty) 3-27(T Bultitude) 4-45(M Pigg) 5-116(R Hackett) 6-120(A Ellis) 7-127(D Cootes) 8-140(T Anderson) 9-145(B McKenzie) 10-210(T Riley)
Bowling: Jack Weatherstone 11-2-16-1, Bill Weatherstone 17-8-21-2, Andy Kinnane 21-5-54-2, Ethan Lucas 20-5-58-3, Jordan Newman 13-5-27-0, Jake Kroehnert 8-1-13-1, Sean Walters 5.1-0-13-0, Jamie Firth 1-0-2-0.
- Tucabia Copmanhurst won 1st innings by six wickets.
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