NSW Country Cricket Championships: Central Coast beats North Coastal for inaugural title
A detailed plan was carried out to perfection as country cricket history was created with an emphatic performance.
The Central Coast has created history by winning its first ever open men’s country cricket championship after an emphatic six-wicket victory over North Coastal in the final at Oxley Oval in Port Macquarie.
It all went to plan perfectly for the Central Coast who, after winning the toss and electing to bowl, ripped through the north coast side’s top order before dismissing its opponents for a modest 207.
In response, the Coasties put on a show with the bat, shooting out of the blocks before cruising past the total in the 31st over.
Central Coast skipper Liam O’Farrell was named man of the match with a dig of 81 not out from 88 balls while Callum Rainger set off some fireworks with a stunning late cameo of 51 from just 25 balls, which included three sixes in a row to finish the game in style.
While the zone has had widespread success in the junior and women’s ranks in recent years, it was remarkably the first time the Central Coast had won an open men’s title, with the current country championships format starting 22 years ago in 2003/04 and the precursor tournaments stretching back as far back as the summer of 1986/87.
“How good, we bloody won this thing,” said coach Simon Keen in a video shared by the zone on social media.
“It was a great effort from the boys today bringing this thing home. We haven’t won it in 22 years, it was a huge effort and a few boys are really feeling it. It was really great stuff.
“What I said to the boys before we started is that I want a really smart cricket team and they delivered, especially this guy (O’Farrell). He’s an extremely smart cricketer, he batted beautifully through the innings there and won us the game, so really well done mate.”
Indeed, while O’Farrell’s excellent innings at the top of the order played a key role in securing the win, his strategy of bowling first proved to be a masterstroke throughout the tournament as the side racked up four dominant victories en route to the title.
“Winning the toss and bowling first, I’m telling you, there’s something in it and the boys did exactly what they needed to do,” he said.
“We were on top from ball one and we brought it home for the Central Coast.”
Indeed, after sending his opponents in things couldn’t have gotten any better for O’Farrell and his men as North Coastal’s Tyh Murphy played on to a Lachlan Cork delivery in what was just the fourth ball of the innings to be bowled for a duck.
With two devastating hundreds to his name in the preliminary rounds, North Coastal’s Jack Cooper loomed as key man in the contest and he showed a slice of what he could do with back-to-back boundaries.
However when he went for one too many he skied the ball and was caught for nine off the bowling of Lachlan Rainger to leave his side struggling at 2-9 in the second over.
It had been a panicked start by North Coastal and there was a sign of things to come shortly after as skipper Alec Williams was almost run out after a misjudged single.
The Central Coast didn’t need a second invitation though and two overs later Williams was run out at the same end by Callum Rainger for just five.
The horror show continued for the batting side in the next over as Tom Byrnes nicked off to Cork for one before Daniel Craig then hit one straight to mid-off to be caught for two.
The Central Coast’s opening bowlers Cork and Rainger were brilliant in their opening spell as they both picked up two wickets each, however the rout continued with the bowling change as Scott Burkinshaw had Dalli caught behind for one to leave the side in deep trouble at 6-39 in the 15th over.
With their team staring down the barrel of a total stuck in double figures, North Coastal’s Callan McKiernan and Ben Pierce set about salvaging something from the innings as they put on 50 for the seventh wicket.
McKiernan in particular looked in good touch as he closed in on a half-century, however when he got a top edge while trying to take spinner Thomas Owen downtown, he was caught for 45 and North Coastal lost its seventh wicket.
But just as the game looked lost, number nine Pat Rosser came in and put on a lower-order masterclass.
Taking a particular liking to the spinners, Rosser unleashed with some power hitting as he took Chris Archer for 36 runs in consecutive overs.
The left-hander pushed his side past 150 in no time and with Pierce holding the fort at the other end put on a partnership of 90 before he was caught swinging for a brilliant 66 from just 30 balls.
The tail continued to wag as Pierce (37) and Darren Bourke (23 not out) helped the side to 207 before it was bowled out in the 45th over.
Rainger finished with the best figures of 3-34 from eight overs, while Cork (2-34) and Scott Burkinshaw (2-42) were also impressive.
Despite its terrible start, North Coastal had given itself something to defend. However it quickly became clear that the target was nowhere near enough as Central Coast openers Liam O’Farrell and Peter Cross went to work.
After a watchful first couple of overs they really got going, blasting 70 from the first 10 to chew through the target.
The pair put on 96 at better than a run a ball for the opening wicket before Cross was caught in the deep for an excellent 42 from just 38 balls.
And while the Central Coast did lose another three wick wickets in fairly quick succession to give North Coastal a sniff of pulling off a miracle, Callum Rainger joined O’Farrell in the middle to finish off the job his brother started with the ball.
In a remarkable display of hitting, he blasted his half-century from just 25 balls, fittingly finishing the game with three consecutive sixes.
He was embraced by his skipper, who himself hit six fours and four sixes to finish unbeaten on 81 from 88 balls to secure a famous victory.
“We’ve been the bridesmaid a lot of times so there was a degree of pressure on the team of coming through with the goods,” said Andrew McFadden, a member of the Central Coast Cricket Association’s executive committee.
“They’ve got there to the final quite a few times but have just fallen at the final hurdle. This year Simon picked quite a young team with a few old heads and asked them to just do the simple things. They’re a young team, he asked them to stick to their plans and that’s what they did.”
After success in the junior and women’s ranks in recent years, McFadden was thrilled to finally claim the men’s title.
“It’s a reflection of a strong Central Coast representative pathways program. It all starts with the excellent cricket academy for both boys and girls. We start developing these players through the rep system and you only have to look at our representative performances in the junior grades,” he said.
“But that one stumbling block has been the men’s opens, for 22 years. So there are a lot of people who have been involved in Central Coast cricket for many years who have all played a part in getting this trophy.”
PREVIEW: HISTORY ON THE LINE IN FINAL
History will be on the line as the Central Coast and North Coastal battle it out for the men’s country cricket championships on Sunday.
After Newcastle’s record-breaking run of six-straight titles came to an end, a new winner will be crowned for the first time since the 2018-19 season, with the game to be played at Oxley Oval at Port Macquarie.
North Coastal will be out to break an 18-year drought as it looks to win its third country crown, while for the Central Coast, the team has the chance to create history with its first ever country championships title in the open men’s division.
“It was spoken about a little,” said Central Coast captain Liam O’Farrell.
“We’ve been in the mix a lot of times, playing in finals and always just got done – most of the time by Newcastle. They didn’t have the best carnival so I think a lot of people were happy to have some new teams in the final.
“Our goal is always to win the whole thing and that was the mark we set for ourselves. So far we’ve done enough to get to the final but obviously they’re the hardest games to win and hopefully we can just put another good performance in and take it out for the first time.”
The team was remarkably dominant throughout the preliminary rounds of the tournament, played on the Central Coast and in Newcastle a fortnight ago.
It earned a bonus point in two of its three victories as it won by margins of five wickets, eight wickets and seven wickets on the back some outstanding bowling performances.
“We’ve got a good combination of players,” said O’Farrell.
“About half the team are quite experienced and stalwarts of Central Coast grade cricket and the carnivals, and then having some young, in-form players coming into the team definitely helps,” he added.
“But I don’t think there’s anything different with the teams we’ve had in the past. We just managed to put some games together in a row.”
While the Central Coast is out to create history, there are parallels with its final opponents North Coastal, which is looking to win the country championships for just the third time in its history and for the first time since 2007-08.
“I was still pretty young back then,” laughed 30-year-old skipper Alec Williams.
“None of our team were playing (for North Coastal) back then. I think there’s a couple of them that might not even have been born.”
Just like the Central Coast, the north coast side was equally convincing in the preliminary rounds of the tournament as it chalked up 66-run, two-wicket and 24-run wins across its three games.
“I think we’ve been building towards that for a long time, in terms of getting the right group together, bringing a lot of young fellas in,” said captain Alec Williams.
“The young guys we had were the best four players in the Colts (under-19s) and they had a very good Colts side, so it was really good having them come in.
“But we’ve also had Cal McKiernan come back this year, he hasn’t played in a while and ended up skippering the last four days and was amazing.
“It was a good year to get a lot of older guys back but to also have those younger guys come through. It was a good group.”
While the team might have finished second on the country championship ladder due to the Central Coast’s bonus points, North Coastal was the outstanding team of the weekend, qualifying for both the one-day and T20 finals as the only team to win all five of its games across both competitions.
This was made all the more impressive considering that the skipper was forced to retire hurt with a calf strain while batting in round one, and he remains in doubt for the final.
In addition, the side also lost off-spinner Ryan Kernaghan to a shoulder injury and saw former first-class cricketer Ben Cooper miss the tournament altogether after suffering a serious hand injury.
And although the make-up of the team and its ability to execute under pressure were key factors behind the success, Williams also paid tribute to efforts off the field.
“It’s a massive achievement. The support staff we’ve had for the past five or six years, I think we’ve turned a corner in terms of the culture in the group,” he said.
“Obviously Pat Rosser coaching us, he’s done an awesome job, but also Simon (Peddle), (manager) Aaron (Bryant) and (co-coach Jeff Cook) Cooky, so we’ve got a great support staff that have given us heaps of stuff and just brought the right group together.
“This year is mainly because of the lead-up. The last few years we’ve been building to this and we’ve just put it together – five in a row.”
STYLES COLLIDE IN DECIDER
In what is exciting for country cricket fans, the clear standout side will meet in the decider, which looms as an interesting clash of styles.
The Central Coast’s success was largely built on the back of its bowling, with the team bowling first in all three games.
It managed to knock over rivals Western, Southern Districts and Central North for the relatively chaseable targets of 228, 175 and 180 respectively before cruising to victory with the bat.
The stats paint an even more impressive picture. Central Coast took the maximum 30 wickets from its three games, more than any other side, and also conceded the fewest runs.
With smallish targets to chase, the team faced the fewest overs and lost the fewest wickets at just 10, a massive 11 fewer than the next best team on this metric.
“I don’t think it’s the team that favours it, I think it’s a ‘me’ thing. I’ve always preferred bowling first,” laughed O’Farrell.
“Strategically, if you bowl really well straight up it just puts you in a really good position.
“You can always win the toss and bat first, and runs on the board are good in big games. But if you’re batting you can possibly lose the game in the first hour if you have a really bad start and lose four wickets, whereas if you’re bowling first that’s not always the case.
“If you bowl well you can put yourself in a really good position but if you don’t bowl that great at the start you can still come back from that.
“The way it worked for us during the carnival was bowling first and ideally bowling them out for a total under 200. Then the batsmen don’t feel as pressured to score, they know the total isn’t so big and they can take their time to get set out in the middle, rather than have to go from ball one.
He added: “In the longer formats it’s a strategy that I like to employ. But then again if it’s a good, flat wicket runs on the board can be just as important in a final, so it’ll probably just depend on the pitch.”
In contrast, North Coastal’s success was largely built on its devastating batting.
Batting first in two of its three games, the team piled on monster totals of 319 and 346 against Greater Illawarra and Newcastle as it scored a whopping 915 runs cumulatively, some 120 more than the next best batting side.
This was largely led by opening batter Jack Cooper, who blasted 109 (78) and 135 (70) in those particular fixtures to sit well clear at the top of the runscoring charts.
“Generally down there (Newcastle) we were thinking of batting first because the pitches were so good,” said Williams.
“Get runs on the board. Big 300 totals are very rarely chased down in country cricket, so if you go out there, bat on a very good deck and get 300 on the board it’s very hard to chase down.
“In T20s it changes a bit, we’d probably prefer to chase in T20s but in the 50-over format if you’re playing on decks like that (in Newcastle) we find that runs on the board against country cricketers is generally going to be pretty good and hard to chase down.”
With players coming from a zone that stretches from Taree all the way to the Tweed, North Coastal will also be looking to try and cash in on some local knowledge of the Oxley Oval pitch.
“We’ve had a bit of a chat about that. A few blokes from Port have played there. Also we’ve played a few T20 games there in the past,” said Williams.
“We’re a bit unsure with the weather, I think there’s been a bit of rain about this week, so that might throw everything out of whack.
“We know it’s a reasonably small ground straight but pretty big square so that might come into the planning a little bit by playing another spinner, but with the weather we’re not sure what the make-up is going to be.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Jack Cooper (North Coastal)
The absolute star of the carnival so far, Cooper was nothing short of devastating with the bat, blasting two massive hundreds as North Coastal blew its rival away.
He scored 341 runs at an average of 85 across the five the 50-over and T20 games a fortnight ago, remarkably more than 100 more than the next best, and did it all at breakneck speed with a strike rate of 173.
The younger brother of professional cricketers and Dutch internationals Tom and Ben Cooper, Jack returned to his local club of Goonellabah in the Northern Rivers this season after some time in grade cricket and has well and truly showed his class.
Chris Archer (Central Coast)
The experienced left-arm orthodox spinner showed all his class to help the team qualify for the final with an outstanding display with the ball in the preliminary rounds, finishing with 10 wickets at 14.4.
“He’s right up there in the wickets and is always a very solid performer with the ball, and a really good bloke to have in the team,” said O’Farrell.
“So most of the players will look up to him and if he can perform well it will be really beneficial to us winning.”
Tom Byrnes (North Coastal)
“The best player in the comp,” according to his representative captain and LJ Hooker League local club cricket rival Williams.
The all-rounder is nothing short of outstanding in all facets of the game. An excellent top- or middle-order batter with all the shots, Byrnes is also an excellent seam bowler, who finished the rep weekend as the leading wicket-taker across both one-day and T20 tournaments with 11 scalps at an average of 11.9 – and with a ridiculous strike rate of 13.
Peter Cross (Central Coast)
While the Central Coast batters might not have piled on the same amount of runs as their rivals on account of the fact that they chased down smallish targets, few looked as good with the willow in hand as opener Cross, who blasted 41 from 35 balls and then a stunning 97 not out from just 62 in his two digs to help his side to some crushing bonus-point wins.
“He looked unbelievable with the bat,” said O’Farrell.
“He’s in his forties but he was batting like he was in his mid-20s. He was hitting the ball ridiculously well. If he can bat for a decent amount of time at the top, no score will be big enough.”
Kai Dalli (North Coastal)
“He’s the oldest 18-year-old I’ve ever met,” said Williams of the talented batting all-rounder after he put together a matchwinning knock of 66 not out to get the side home by two wickets in the round two clash against Riverina a fortnight ago.
“He was the calmest man out there.”
It’s high praise for the young gun, who has impressed at junior representative level. While mainly a batter, he is also a handy seam bowler who picked up three crucial wickets in the team’s high-scoring victory over Newcastle.
Lachlan Cork (Central Coast)
In a team that likes to bowl first, the opening bowler is tipped to play a huge role in the team’s fortunes in the decider.
When he’s on he has the ability to really rip through top orders and can set the game up for his team.
“He hasn’t played a whole lot of rep cricket but he’s taken a lot of wickets in first grade on the Coast and his competitive nature will be key,” said O’Farrell.
“If he can start the game really well it’ll be really good for the team.”
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