Aidan Watterson leads Northern Brothers Diggers to premiership and Souths win inaugural women’s competition

GRAND FINAL FEVER: Aidan Watterson swapped the bright lights of the Brisbane cricket scene to return to his boyhood club Northern Brothers Diggers in a move which has paid dividends. Meanwhile Souths have etched their name into Toowoomba cricket history after a groundbreaking feat.

Northern Brothers Diggers celebrate winning the 2024 Toowoomba Cricket A-grade one-day premiership.

After years of falling short in the one-day competition, Northern Brothers Diggers has at long last broken its 11-year drought to claim the Toowoomba cricket A-grade one-day premiership for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

The Diggers were a class above from start to finish as they bowled the Western Districts juggernaut out for just 86 runs before chasing down the target with seven wickets in hand after just 26.3 overs.

NBD captain Aidan Watterson led from the front as he took two wickets and scored an unbeaten 31 with the bat to guide his side to glory.

Watterson was delighted to see the growth in his side as they broke their A-grade one-day drought.

“We’ve got a young group, so to get success quite quickly was really good,” he said.

“We have got a lot of new faces and lost two semis last year so it was a good reward for a young group.

“We normally love the two-day format, it has eluded us the one-day stuff.

“So to be so dominant was exactly what the club needed, it has got away from us a lot of times as a club.

“Wests are the standard, they have been in so many finals and won so many finals.

“To win it so convincingly was a great reward and a good confidence booster.”

After making his mark for Western Suburbs in the Brisbane first grade competition for several years, Watterson returned to his boyhood club last season with a goal of returning the club to its glory days.

“It’s always been one of my cricket boxes I want to tick to come back and put Diggers to where it was before I left,” he said.

“We were pretty successful when I was a kid before I went to Brissy.

“This year we’ve been successful, we had every grade in second (place on the ladder) heading into the weekend.”

With Northern Brothers taking out the first A-grade title of the Toowoomba cricket season, Watterson is excited for what’s ahead when the red-ball campaign kicks off this weekend.

“We’ve been waiting for two-day cricket it is no secret how we love that the most,” he said.

“In our second-best format, to get success is great and will give us the confidence to chase the one we’re really after which is the two-day comp.”

In Reserve grade, University claimed a 28-run win over Wests, with captain David Else leading the way to take out player of the match honours.

The B and C-grade grand finals were both abandoned due to the weather, with Met-Easts claiming the B-grade premiership and Wests Downlands taking the C-grade title.

Souths 2024 Toowoomba women's premiership winning cricket team.

Women’s grand final

Souths Magpies etched their name into history as they claimed the first women’s T20 premiership in style with a strong win over Wests to chase down the 75 needed for victory with seven overs to spare.

Souths captain Jo Butcher shared her delight after her team claimed the inaugural title.

“It was really good, they are a really good team, really support each other and support the other teams as well,” she said.

Butcher revealed a player who held the key to the grand final success.

“Harpinder Kaur, she got three wickets in three overs on Friday night, that was fantastic,” she said.

“It definitely boosted our confidence a bit more, just to get a few of their really good players out.

“Both sides put in a really good performance, we’ve both come a long way in the competition - really grown in our skills.”

The Souths captain was over the moon to lead her side to victory in the inaugural season, saying it was a special achievement.

“It’s taken a while to get to this point and it’s really good to have an actual competition happening,” she said.

She said every single Souths player was a shining light throughout the season, giving significant praise to several of her stars.

“April Lancaster-Smith, she’s done really her,” Butcher said.

“Her batting skills have come along, she gets quite a few boundaries.

“Teagan Davidson and Jordyn Thureson who are learning wicket keeping and excelling at the new skill.

“All-rounders include Tiffany Davis, Alice Rigby, Mel Lyell and Kylie Carson - (they) place some good pressure in the games.”