Cricket Gold Coast 2024/25: Mudgeeraba Nerang and Districts surprise Queens to clinch One Day flag

Josh Nelson’s season is going from strength to strength as he steered Mudgeeraba Nerang and Districts to another Cricket Gold Coast premiership. Why the win was so special.

Mudgeeraba Nerang and Districts celebrate the 2024/25 Cricket Gold Coast one day premiership. Picture: Facebook.

Josh Nelson’s red-hot season continued as Mudgeeraba Nerang and Districts stunned Queens with a clinical grand final display to be crowned Cricket Gold Coast One Day champions.

Knocks from Nelson and skipper Lydon Gibbons steered Mudgeeraba to a tall total of 6-255, before the skittled Queens for 142 to secure a 113-run triumph.

That the victory was so emphatic came as a surprise to Gibbons.

“To be fair, when we hit 255 I still wasn’t confident,” Gibbons said.

He had fair reason to feel that way, with the Centaurs rattling along at better than a run a ball for the first six overs to shoot to 0-46.

“They were flying early, we obviously got a little bit lucky as you need to to win those bigger games,” Gibbons said.

“If I’m going to be honest, it was probably the best team performance I’ve been a part of at that club, everyone had a role to play and they played it.

“Queens are by far the best team in the comp. For us to beat them how we did, pretty much everything had to go our way and it did.”

Mudgeeraba batsman Lydon Gibbons defends against Runaway Bay in a first grade clash. Pic Mike Batterham.

Kevin Chapman struck first for Mudgeeraba when he had Steven Baker dismissed for a 40-ball 50. He would finish 1-16, and Rhys Finn wound up as the chief destroyer with 4-17 from his six overs, while every bowler finished with at least one scalp.

Having strode to the crease with Mudgeeraba on 1-22 in the first innings, Nelson played a decisive hand with his 75-ball 71. When he eventually departed the team total had been lifted to 220.

“Nelsy’s a gun, when he wants to get into a fight he’s so good, he’s one of the best players the comp’s seen, he’s exceptional,” Gibbons said.

“When he’s on, he’s so hard to get out and that’s why he got man of the match. He was crucial.”

The performance was a continuation of what is shaping as an exceptional season from Nelson, who has 974 runs to his name at an average of 48.7 across all competitions, and was notably selected in the Australian Country team after strong showings for Queensland.

“He’s just so determined. As you get older you get smarter with the way that you play,” Gibbons said.

“He’s figured out a way to score runs and not worry about game situations and just focus on how he plays. I wouldn’t want to verse him, that’s for sure.”

Josh Nelson batting for Mudgeeraba Nerang and Districts. Picture by Richard Gosling.

Gibbons himself was just as crucial with bat in hand, crunching a destructive 67 from 58 balls that included five maximums in his 105-run stand with Nelson that shaped the match.

The flag was Mudgeeraba’s second first grade premiership in as many years, after the club secured last season’s two day flag but fell short of Palm Beach in the One Day decider.

Pleasingly for the club, five players from last year’s second grade One Day premiership figured in Sunday’s triumph.

“It proves that our coaching staff and pathways programs for juniors coming through are definitely working,” Gibbons said, as his focus shifts to completing adding another two-day premiership to Mudgeeraba’s burgeoning trophy cabinet.

“Queens are by far the best team in the competition, if we have to verse them again everything will have to go our way for us to beat them in a two-day final,” he said.

“It’s cricket, anything can happen.”