LJ Hooker League: wrap, results, standouts from the semi-finals
With the game in the balance, one side put on a devastating display to book itself a spot in the LJ Hooker League grand final.
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It will be a grand final rematch in the LJ Hooker League when Marist Brothers and Cudgen meet in a repeat of last season’s decider.
The teams will face off at Reg Dalton Oval in Kingscliff after defeating Goonellabah Workers Sports and Casino respectively in the semi-finals.
Catch up with a wrap of the action below.
BACK-TO-BACK HOPES ALIVE AS MARIST DOWNS GOONELLABAH
Marist Brothers have kept their hopes of winning back-to-back titles alive after defeating local rivals Goonellabah Workers Sports in the semi-final at Oakes Oval.
Some resilient lower-order batting followed by a blistering opening spell of bowling laid the platform for the Brothers as they accounted for their cross-town rivals to progress through to the decider.
“I’m very pleased to get another opportunity at a grand final. The boys played really well, we stuck to the fight and it was a good result in the end,” said captain Brendan Mitchell.
“Those lower-order runs were absolutely massive,” he added. “The pitch probably did pop and a few balls stayed low more than I thought but our batters, especially that middle to lower order, stayed strong, fought hard and got the job done.”
Batting first, Marist Brothers found themselves in a spot of bother at 3-42 early in their innings on the back of some dangerous bowling from Goonellabah’s William Brown.
However the side stabilised things in the middle order thanks to strong contributions from Patrick Martin (40) and Zayd Thomas (32), before key lower-order runs from Harry Donelan (36) and Jeremy Perkins (25) pushed the team to a competitive total of 205.
What came next proved to be the decisive moment of the game.
With just three overs left in Saturday’s play, Marist Brothers opening bowlers Mitchell and Harrison Gillett struck with a deadly triple blow, dismissing Nathan Bezrouchko, Ryan Kernaghan and William Brown for ducks to leave Goonellabah reeling at 3-7.
“We gave ourselves three overs at the end of the afternoon on Saturday to have a bowl at them so obviously we wanted to make the most out of it,” said Mitchell.
“It was a tricky little time for them to come out, they sent out some nightwatchmen. We bowled well, put it in the right areas and had them 3-7 at the end of the day.”
The momentum continued in the first over on Sunday morning as Gillett trapped Blake Perkins in front LBW for four to leave Goonellabah at 4-7.
Kaleb Armstrong (23) and Kale Hare (25) helped to steady the ship, while Ben Cooper put a minor scare through the Marist Brothers’ line-up with an entertaining 65 from just 54 balls. However the introduction of left-arm tweaker Harry Donelan and leg spinner Tom Parsons helped Marist bowl their rivals out for 136.
“It wasn’t comfortable,” said Mitchell. “We were definitely on the front foot after getting them to 4-7 at one stage but they fought back.
“Kale Hare and Ben Cooper put on a good partnership. It was looking a bit dicey there at one point with Ben batting really well. He’s a good player, he’s played higher grades of cricket. But Tom Parsons came on and got the job done.”
With a healthy 69-run lead the Brothers had half a day to navigate as they tried to avoid a batting collapse that would give Goonellabah a sniff of getting back into the game.
And although they lost Ashley Simes and Joe Parsons early, Cooper Williams (20), Patrick Martin (15 not out) and Kevin Warid, who uncharacteristically scored just eight off 65 balls, saw the day out and the team into the grand final as Marist finished their second innings on 3-70.
“We just wanted to stay out there as long as we could, bat time. That’s all we needed to do and our batsmen did the job,” said Mitchell.
“Kevin Warid was amazing, he was solid as a rock out there and looked really comfortable the whole time. He’s an aggressive batsman so it’s kind of against what he normally would do, but he looked really comfortable. He was happy leaving, happy blocking, wasn’t worried about the short balls – it was really promising to watch him do it.”
Marist Brothers 10-205 (Martin 40, Donelan 36; Brown 3-17, Kernaghan 2-33) & 3-70 (Williams 20, Parsons 18) defeated Goonellabah Workers Sports 10-136 (Cooper 65, Hare 25; Gillett 3-20, Mitchell 2-19)
CUDGEN HAMMERS CASINO TO BOOK SHOT AT REDEMPTION
Cudgen will have the chance to atone for last season’s grand final loss to Marist Brothers, setting up a grand final rematch with the Lismore-based side after thrashing Casino in its semi-final clash at Reg Dalton Oval.
After winning the toss on a tricky pitch, Cudgen ripped through the Casino top order before bowling the side out for just 67 in the first innings.
After putting on 162 themselves, the home side then skittled the Cavaliers for 91 in their second dig to secure an outright victory and book a spot in the decider.
“It was a good toss for us to win,” said Cudgen captain Alec Williams. “There’s been a bit of rain about with the cyclone so it was doing a bit early.
“We bowled and fielded really well and had them 4-9 at the start of the innings with a runout amongst that, which was good. For the first two hours on day one we were pretty good and that was the game, really. The first two hours was where we really won the game.”
Indeed, it was absolute carnage early on day one as Cudgen tore through the Casino batting lineup.
Opening bowlers James Julius and Johns Ainsworth combined to take three wickets in the first six overs, before a run out from Ainsworth got rid of danger man Oliver Walker to remarkably make it 4-9 after just 6.3 overs.
The rout didn’t stop there as just one player in Casino’s top eight, skipper Damien Vidler (20), made it to double figures and three batters were dismissed for ducks.
Julius led from the front with 2-16 from eight overs while Ainsworth took 2-7 from four. Tim Spencer and Pat Rosser both chimed in with two each and Hayden Wilson bagged one.
Despite the difficult batting conditions, Cudgen cruised past Casino’s total with the loss of just two wickets.
However the home side suffered a collapse of its own to be reduced to 6-99 at one stage before some lower-order runs from Callum Prichard (29) and Pat Rosser (24) helped push total to 162.
In a sign of how difficult the conditions were for batting, Williams top scored for Cudgen with just 32, while Casino bowlers Oliver Walker (4-34), Jordan Williams (3-34) and Jed Mulcahy (2-18) all caused the batters trouble.
“I would say it’s the hardest pitch we’ve played on all year,” said Williams. “It was just tacky the whole way through and you never really felt in. If we batted first and got 160 that would have been about par.
“No one really went on with it, our top scorer got 30-odd. It wasn’t much of a batting display, we just chipped away and knew once we got past their score that we wanted to get as far in front as we could and take as much time out of the game as we could.”
With a 95-run lead Cudgen was well placed going into the second innings, however it made sure of the result with another dominant bowling display as it skittled Casino for 91.
Julius and Ainsworth both picked up another two wickets each, left-arm wrist spinner Harry Kershler took one, while veteran left-arm orthodox tweaker Pat Rosser stood out with 4-18 from 8.4 overs to seal the outright win.
On the back of the performance, Williams was full of praise for his bowling attack.
“I think we used six bowlers over the two innings and every one of them did their job. James was excellent up top, so was John. John’s been good for us this year and has been handy to have up the other end from James.
“And then our two spinners have probably been our main strength throughout the year. Casino’s big wicket was Damien Vidler, their captain. Tom Spencer has been amongst ones and twos this year and got him with the second ball of his spell.”
Casino 10-67 (D Vidler 20; Rosser 2-1, Ainsworth 2-7, Spencer 2-12) & 10-91 (J Vidler 24, Turner 23; Rosser 4-18, Ainsworth 2-18) lost to Cudgen 10-162 (Williams 32, Prichard 29; Walker 3-34, Williams 3-34)
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