Cricket NSW Community Cup: Wallsend Tigers hitting the road for semi-final showdown

They’ve demolished all that have come their way, and now the Wallsend Tigers are hitting the road as they seek to win a piece of NSW cricketing history.

When Wallsend entered this season’s inaugural Community Cup, the players were hopeful of being drawn for an away game somewhere across the state.

With clubs from Cudgen on the Tweed Coast and Eden in the state’s far south in the draw, they thought they were a fair chance of a road trip if they managed to go deep into the competition.

However after a round one victory over local Newcastle rivals Belmont, a home win over Kempsey side Nulla and a round three away triumph against Central Coast side The Entrance, the Tigers have made it all the way to the semi-finals with only a one-hour journey down the coast to show for it.

But after winning through to this Sunday’s final-four clash against Berowra at Bruce Purser Reserve in Sydney’s Rouse Hill, the team has finally got its wish.

“It hasn’t worked out that way but we’re finally getting a bus this weekend – we’ve finally got an away trip,” laughed Wallsend skipper Jacob Montgomery.

The reigning Newcastle premiers are out to claim the inaugural Community Cup. Picture: NDCA

“The idea of playing teams from out of town and potentially having a few away trips is a good one.”

Indeed, inspired by the stories from previous competitions like the defunct Country Cup, Montgomery said the Wallsend players were excited by the prospect of signing up for the inaugural season of the Community Cup, a T20 tournament open to all clubs from across the state, except those involved in Sydney Premier Cricket.

“First and foremost, it is a competition and we thought we’d do well, but part of the motivation was to try and get the chance to have some time away with mates and enjoy a few trips away together.

“It used to happen with the Country Cup but that disappeared, and we heard stories from older players and ex-players about when they used to go away on trips and it was always good fun, so the chance to get to do that is good fun and exciting.”

The Tigers have earned their way into the top four on the back of three dominant performances.

After bowling local rivals Belmont out for 51 in its first game, Wallsend blasted past the total within eight overs and with 10 wickets in the shed. It was a similar story in round two against Nulla, with the Tigers cleaning the Kempsey side up for 61 and then chasing that down within nine overs.

The team finally got to have a proper bat against The Entrance in round three, scoring 123 from its 20 overs before skittling their rivals for just 55.

In seriously impressive statistics, Wallsend has lost just nine wickets in three games, and has managed to take an astonishing 30 wickets for just 167 runs, at an average of 5.6 runs per wicket.

“We’ve had a good start,” said Montgomery. “I thought the game just gone was going to be a bit tighter, it probably should have been. But I don’t think that was a reflection of their ability versus our ability. Going into it, we expected it to be a tight game against The Entrance.”

He added: “We got some momentum, managed to bowl and field well, and once we got the momentum we kept it.”

With the chance to play against teams from other parts of the state, Montgomery said the competition is also a good opportunity to gauge the strength of Newcastle cricket, with the Tigers having won the minor and major premiership double last year.

“We’re well exposed through the rep program and the Country Champs, and we’ve had half a dozen guys who’ve been part of the Newcastle side over the past five years who’ve won five Country Championships in a row, so we knew on a country scale that we were very competitive, but at a club scale there’s some intrigue there as to how we would measure up.”

Heading into the final, the Tigers will be looking towards some of their rep stars to do the business against Berowra.

The skipper, a representative player and former Newcastle District Cricket player of the year, will play a crucial role in the top order, while opener batter Aaron Wivell, who starred for Newcastle in this season’s Country Championship triumph, also looms as a key man for the Tigers.

“He can be very destructive with the bat,” said Montgomery. “He bats at the top of the order, goes very hard and can take the game on. He’s the type that if it comes off, he can win you the game.”

New South Wales Country representative Aaron Wivell is a danger man for Wallsend. Picture: Kevin Farmer

With the ball, Wallsend have the luxury to give experienced rep left-arm paceman Pat Magann the new ball, while the captain also paid tribute to young off-spinner Will Parkinson, who has been impressive in his first year at the club after making the move from Maitland.

“He hasn’t has heaps to do yet in this competition, but he’s a young player on the rise to keep an eye on.”

With $2000 prizemoney for the winning team, there might be some sides eyeing off a fancy end-of-season trip. However for the Wallsend boys, some recent events at the club have meant they’ve got their minds on something else.

“It actually got discussed on the weekend,” said Montgomery. “We actually had vandalism at our ground last week. Our set of covers were destroyed by a motorbike and the guys thought that that’s where the prizemoney could go if we’re successful.”

So, ahead of the game and their first bus trip of the competition, the only thing left for the Tigers players to think about is who they need to avoid on the two-hour drive down to Sydney.

“There’s one and that’s our opening bowler Pat Magann,” laughed Montgomery.

“He’s just a pest. Luckily he can play cricket, that’s the best thing about him.”

Wallsend play Berowra in the semi-final at Bruce Purser Reserve, Rouse Hill, at 10am on Sunday, with the winner to play either Wollongong District CC or the Epping Bulls in the final 6:30 that evening.