Country Bash: Newcastle Blasters claim maiden T20 cricket title over Riverina Bullets
Newcastle has created history in the women’s Country Bash, with some excellent bowling and smart batting helping the team to a famous victory.
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The Newcastle Blasters women’s cricket team has created history by taking out the NSW Country Bash T20 tournament for the first time after a six-wicket win over the Riverina Bullets at the Cricket Central Oval in Sydney.
Coming into the final against the back-to-back premiers, who were looking to go for a hat-trick of titles, the Newcastle side set up the victory with a brilliant performance with the ball, restricting their opponents to just 8-103 from 18 overs in the reduced match.
Although Riverina got off to a solid start, Newcastle bowlers Tara French and Sienna Eve ripped through the top and middle order, taking 3-7 and 3-13 respectively as the Bullets slumped from 0-30 to 4-33 and then 5-90 to 8-98.
Riverina’s Grace Moyle was the pick of the batters for her team, scoring a run a ball 38, however the tight bowling and fielding effort restricted the defending champions to a modest total.
In response, Newcastle got off to a shaky start, losing openers Kate McTaggart and Kirsten Smith cheaply as they fell to 3-15.
However Abbey Taylor and French steadied the ship, putting on 62 for the fourth wicket to put Newcastle back on top.
And although the game remained tight, Taylor (43*) and Emma-Jayne Howe (11*) guided the team home with four balls to spare to secure a famous win.
The victory caps off an excellent tournament for the Hunter side, who won all four games in the Country Bash to take out the title.
It also puts an end to Riverina’s recent dominance of the competition, with the side having won the last two Country Bash titles.
The result continues the strong rep cricket season for Newcastle, who won the men’s Country Colts (under-19s) title last month, and qualified for the open men’s Country Championships.
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