Country Cricket Championships: Newcastle create history with fifth-straight title
Newcastle has once again re-written the country cricket record books after some brilliant spin bowling and devastating batting in the men’s Country Championships final.
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Newcastle has claimed an unprecedented fifth-straight Country Championships title after defeating Central Coast by seven wickets in the final at Newcastle’s No.1 Sportsground.
A brilliant bowling performance from the team’s spinners, who took nine of the Central Coast’s 10 wickets, laid the platform for the victory before a blistering display of hitting from opening batsman Aaron Wivell ensured that the team cruised past the total of 209 with 39 deliveries remaining.
“It was a clinical performance from us. We started a little bit slow but once we got a bit of a wriggle on I think we dominated from about the 15th over onwards,” said Newcastle captain Nick Foster, who himself took four wickets with his off-breaks.
“Obviously we’re keen to play to our strengths and our spin bowlers are a strong area for us. I don’t necessarily know about it panning out the way it did, whether that was planned or not, but certainly to bowl a lot of spin was part of the plan.”
The victory ensured that Newcastle continued its dominance of NSW country cricket. Already on a record-breaking run of four-straight Country Championships victories heading into the game, the side extended its run with an unprecedented fifth title in a row.
“It’s a bit of a groundbreaking moment I suppose in country cricket terms. You don’t necessarily set out to win five in a row, but we set out every year to achieve this and we’ve been lucky enough to do it for five years in a row,” said Foster.
“There are a lot of things that have got to go right – whether that be weather and other sort of things – to have that happen, so for us to put ourselves in that sort of position to actually be able to do that is pretty impressive.”
After last year’s final between the two sides was decided in a thrilling final over, this year’s decider was a far more one-sided affair, with Foster rating it as one of the best performances from his team “probably for a long time”.
“This is my 10th or 11th (Country Championship) win now and it’s certainly one of the more emphatic.
“It was a pretty clinical performance for us in all facets – we fielded well, we bowled well, we batted well as well – so it was a nice way to finish. It was somewhat of an anti-climax but you take them every day of the week.”
Leg spinner Aaron Bills was named man of the match and awarded the Mark Curry Medal for a devastating spell that turned the match on its head.
With the Central Coast openers Jake Hardy and Joe Hawkins having done well to see off the new ball and get the side to 0-57 after 11 overs, Bills was brought on in the 12th and had an immediate effect, dismissing Hardy caught behind with his first ball.
“For me, the first two balls gives me a good idea of whether I’ll bowl well, and with the first ball I got a wicket,” said Bills.
“When it comes to finals, you’ve just got to step up, do the best you can for the team. Central Coast are good cricketers, they’ve got some good bats so you’ve got to try and tie them down.”
Bills then ripped through the Central Coast top order, claiming the wickets of Hawkins, captain Broc Hardy and Brett Russell to at one stage have the figures of 4-13 from three overs.
“I wasn’t really thinking too much, I was just going out there trying to bowl straight, land the ball first and let it take over itself,” he said.
“I just thought if I can slow them down for a couple of overs and build pressure on then, we’re a very good chance. Obviously a couple of things fell my way, but it was good.”
He was well supported by left-arm orthodox spinner Adrian Isherwood, who along with Bills helped slow down the run rate down and put pressure on the Central Coast batsmen.
After the team fell to 5-91, Callum Rainger and Dylan Robertson helped to stabilise the Central Coast innings, putting on a stand of 38 until another spinner – Newcastle’s captain Nick Foster – brought himself on.
After a close LBW shout with his third ball, Foster clean bowled Rainger with his fifth delivery to put an end to the thought of any grand comeback.
And while lower order batters Robertson (29), Bailey Lidgard (30) and Thomas Owen (28) showed some resistance, Foster cleaned up the tail to finish with figures of 4-29 and bowl the Central Coast out for 209 in the 46th over.
The Central Coast needed a strong start with the ball and that is exactly what they got after Daniel Arms was bowled by Robert Lavery in the first over for just one run.
However that’s as close as the Central Coast came to winning, with Newcastle’s Aaron Wivell taking to the bowling with some excellent hitting.
The opener treated the bowling attack with disdain as he smashed 14 boundaries in his excellent knock of 78 from just 63 balls. At the time of his dismissal Newcastle was in a totally dominant position at 2-98 from 18 overs.
His hitting allowed teammates Logan Weston and Jeffrey Goninan to take their time getting their eye in and cruise towards the total. And while Weston was dismissed for 49 with just five to win, Goninan hit the winning runs in the 44th over to finish on 59 not out and seal an emphatic seven-wicket victory.
Given the dominant victory, Newcastle is expected to be well represented in the upcoming Australian Country Cricket Championships, also to be held in Newcastle in January.
The win continues a golden representative summer for Newcastle, which has already won the Country Colts (men’s under-19s) and women’s Country Bash titles.
Central Coast 10-209 (Hawkins 32, Lidgard 30; Foster 4-29, Bills 4-50) lost to Newcastle 3-210 (Wivell 78, Goninan 59*, Weston 49; Lavery 1-12) by seven wickets
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