LJ Hooker League cricket: Wrap, results, standouts from round eight
As the top-two teams clashed in a heavyweight contest in the LJ Hooker League, it was a 15-year-old rookie who once again showed his class by turning the game on its head.
The trend of dramatic games continued in round eight as a final-over thriller highlighted another big weekend of cricket in the LJ Hooker League.
While the cream of the competition were away on representative duty with the North Coastal team for the country championships, a host of young guns stood up for their sides as a new team claimed first spot on the ladder.
Catch up with a wrap of the action below.
YOUNG GUN SPINS COLTS INTO FIRST
The Tweed Banora Colts have surged into first place on the ladder after defeating previous leaders Goonellabah by 55 runs in a top-of-the-table clash at Oakes Oval.
After being bowled out for 184 on a tricky batting deck, the Colts put on an excellent display with the ball to roll their opponents for just 129 in a game that saw both teams lose star players Jack Cooper (G’bah) and Tom Byrnes (Tweed) to representative duty.
“We’re pretty stoked with it,” said Tweed captain Andrew Ridgewell.
“We actually had three or four of our best players out: Lewis Koppel is injured, Jamie Bennett is injured and then Tommy was away. Also Sam Powell couldn’t bowl because of an injury but he got amongst the runs.
“It was sort of a must-win for us going into Christmas so we can get on a bit of a roll before we have a break. It was a hot day so I’m just proud of everyone’s efforts.”
More than any other player, the platform for the victory was laid by 15-year-old Colts spinner Kade Wood, who ripped through the Goonellabah batting line-up with an outstanding five-wicket haul.
“He definitely stood up, and we knew it was going to be a tough game,” said Ridgewell.
“It’s always been tough against those guys, they bat all the way down to the end. Kade got us off to a good start and we were lucky enough to get some late wickets and finish it off early.”
Coming on as a first-change bowler in the eighth over with Goonellabah travelling well at 0-27, the off-spinner made an almost immediate impact by dismissing Kale Hare with just his third delivery.
He struck in his second over by bowling Kaleb Armstrong before repeating the dose by rattling Joe Price’s stumps in his third.
Wood then put an exclamation mark on his outstanding spell by knocking over Blake Perkins and Alec Watson in back-to-back balls in his fourth to at one stage have the figures of 5-4 before finishing with the brilliant return of 5-18 from seven overs.
“It’s a bit of everything: a bit of dip and drift and a nice little bit of turn,” said Ridgewell. “On Saturday he skidded a few through, had a few bowled. He cramped them up, was a little bit too quick and just skidded them through.”
The haul takes Wood into second place on the wicket-taking lists for the entire competition with 16 scalps at a remarkable average of 13.6.
“He’s been outstanding. We’re starting to forget how young he actually is because he’s playing well above of his age with the ball,” said Ridgewell.
“He hasn’t had much of an opportunity with the bat but he’s solid with the bat as well. But he’s bowling great, so if we can just keep his confidence up and keep him and keep him rolling, it’d be great for everyone.”
The spell, combined with a wicket to quick Jock Vivers, had a huge impact on the game as Goonellabah lost six wickets for just nine runs and slumped to 6-36 in their chase.
And while Kevin Warid (41 not out), Nathan Bezrouchko (25) and Brady Toniello (23) all staged a lower-order fight back, the damage had been done and the side was bowled out for 129 in the 35th over.
It came after the Tweed top order had earlier made what proved to be a decisive opening to the match, with Arren Laycock (55) and Sam Powell (37) making strong contributions to get the side off to a strong start.
Goonellabah fought back with Warid (4-40) and Kale Hare (3-36) taking key wickets, however starts from Ridgewell (22) and Vivers (31) pushed the visitors to 184 before being bowled out in the 36th over.
“We thought 200 was going to be par but after seeing how difficult it got for us towards the end we were happy with 180,” said Ridgewell.
“We were stoked to get them 50 short because they bat pretty deep and they’ve always pipped us at the end but we got them out and were very happy with the bowlers’ efforts.”
The win pushes the Colts above Goonellabah on averages into first place on the ladder after eight rounds with a record of five wins, two losses and one washout.
“We know that’s where we want to be,” said Ridgewell. “It has sort of felt like a bit of an up-and-down start for us with a bit of rain and a couple of losses, but it looks like we’re on a bit of a roll now that we can continue on with.”
‘BORING’ CASINO IN FINAL-OVER THRILLER
Casino has climbed off the bottom of the ladder and in the process bridged the gap between itself and the top four after defeating Marist Brothers by two wickets in a final-over thriller at Mortimer Oval.
In a rain-affected game that was reduced to 36 overs per side, an excellent display from the Cavaliers’ bowling attack restricted Marist to 9-167 before the team overcame an injury and a late flurry of wickets to edge past the target with five balls to spare.
“It was a really good win,” said Casino captain Damien Vidler.
“It was set up by our bowlers in the first 20 overs. We restricted them to about 4-60 from the first 19 or 20 overs.”
Indeed, while this season has seen the competition revert entirely to one-day fixtures, Vidler said his side took an old-fashioned approach to bowling.
“It was just really tight bowling, and we hit a two-day length,” he said.
“I know it sounds stupid, but we spoke about just playing ‘boring’ cricket. We just tried to bore them out of it and make them make mistakes – and it seemed to work for us.”
In an excellent team bowling performance, quick Jordan Williams was the pick for Casino with 2-18 from seven. Alan Nowlan was also excellent with 2-26 from his eight overs while Thomas Relph and Jayden Vidler also picked up two wickets each.
After a top-order collapse, Thomas Lindsay was far and away the best for Marist with the bat, scoring an entertaining 50 from just 42 balls.
In response, despite losing two early wickets, the Cavaliers looked in control for much of the chase as Damien Vidler and Dylan Olive built a strong partnership and worked their way to 2-64 from just 12 overs.
However in a hint of the drama that was to come, Olive was forced from the field with a knee injury as the nature of the game changed.
“We were cruising and then Dylan hurt his knee,” said Vidler.
“It took me three or four overs to convince him that he had to go off because he couldn’t run or anything.”
From here Casino lost another two wickets, which forced Olive to return to the middle after some running repairs.
“Against all orders, he strapped his knee up the best he could and walked back out to the crease,” Vidler added.
With the pair back in the middle the game seemed well and truly in control once more with the team needing 25 to win with six wickets in the shed, only for an inspired spell of bowling from Marist young gun Blake Collings to throw up yet another curveball.
He knocked over both Vidler (66) and Olive (34) in quick succession to reduce the Cavaliers to 7-156 and set up a grandstand finish.
“I was (nervous),” said Vidler. “It came down to us needing 12 from 12, but then Jordan Williams walked out to the middle and hit a six over mid-wicket, which really settled the nerves,” he added.
“But I don’t want to take anything away from their young quick Blake Collings, he bowled out of his skin there at the end. He nearly won them the game.”
And while Williams became Collings’ third victim, his big strike proved to be enough as Casino went past the total with five balls remaining.
It continued a trend of the Cavaliers being involved in nailbiting clashes throughout 2025.
“It doesn’t look as good if you win easy,” laughed Vidler.
“We’ve been in every game this year. Against Marist we found a way to get over the line whereas in other games we might not have. That was the deciding factor in the end.
“It was really good for the boys to see that we can do it against a quality side in Marist Brothers and hopefully it gives us a bit more confidence.”
The victory moved Casino from last place on the ladder up to eighth. However the tight nature of the competition means that the side is now just one win away from fifth.
“I said to the boys before the game on the weekend: it doesn’t matter where you are on the ladder at the moment, whoever wins four or five games out of six is going to go a long way to putting themselves into a semi-finals spot,” said Vidler.
“And it doesn’t matter which team that is, every team in the comp right now can still make the top four.”
TERRANORA PREVAILS ON RAIN-SOAKED PITCH
Terranora Lakes have recorded back-to-back wins for the first time since returning to the Hooker League and have moved to within just three points of the top four after a 24-run victory over Alstonville in a rain-affected clash at Hill Park Oval.
In a low-scoring clash played on a water-affected pitch, Terranora’s Sandeep Chauhan was the standout batter of the game with a stunning 42 from 41 balls to help his side get to 129 before being bowled out in the 28th over.
In response, Alstonville was restricted to 7-105 from 28 overs when rain stopped play, short of the DLS target of 129.
“That was a massive win,” said Terranora captain Matt Sutton.
“We lost the toss and batted first on that pitch after two hours of rain. It was interesting to bat on, put it that way.
“But Sandeep scored 42 and made it look like he was batting on a different pitch to the rest of us. He hit an inside-out cover drive for six on a pitch that was rolling.”
It proved to be the decisive knock of the match as Terranora’s next best batter Mitchell Sales managed just 17 and Alstonville’s top scorer Robert Ewing hit 33 from 62 balls.
“All the guys’ heads sort of dropped when we lost the toss but I honestly can’t speak highly enough of Sandeep’s innings, it was just incredible. That’s better than a hundred on a flat wicket,” said Sutton, who emphasised how difficult it was to play on the wicket.
“It was pouring down rain when we got there and they were just putting the covers on, so obviously the pitch copped a bit.
“I’ve been playing cricket for 20 years or so and it’s definitely one of the most interesting pitches I’ve played on,” he added.
“The odd one kicked through but 90 per cent of them were short balls that would hit you on the toe.”
After an inspired dig from Chauhan, Terranora’s bowlers did the business with the ball, taking advantage of the difficult batting conditions to restrict their opponents to 7-105 from 28 overs.
“The bowlers were just spot on. They kept them to 2-29 after 14 in a 28-over game,” said Sutton.
“They were consistent, bowled to the fields. Because there was such long grass we just had a good ring field and the boys just bowled to their plans perfectly.”
Chauhan capped off his outstanding game with 2-12, opening bowler James Taylor was almost unplayable at times as he finished with figures of 2-5 from three overs while UK recruit and spinner Zahaan Hussain took the bowling honours with three crucial wickets as he took 3-27 from six overs to help his side to victory.
“‘Zee’ bowled awesome, the best I’ve seen him bowl this year, so it was great to see him get going,” said Sutton.
The victory, the team’s third in four games, moves Terranora up to sixth on the ladder and just three points outside of the top four, an outstanding achievement for a team playing its first season in the top grade for 15 years.
“We’re just playing with a lot of confidence,” said Sutton.
“None of us knew each other at the start of the year and we’re just starting to click as a group. And the fact that we’ve been the underdog every game, everyone sort of wrote us off, we’re feeding off that.
“Besides Cudgen in round one we’ve been in every game and have had a chance to win. We’re just getting better and better as a playing group.”
In the other round eight fixtures, Cudgen returned to the winner’s circle with a comfortable six-wicket victory over Lennox Head and Tintenbar East Ballina jumped up into the top four with a four-wicket win in a low-scoring clash over Pottsville.
Originally published as LJ Hooker League cricket: Wrap, results, standouts from round eight
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