The Chronicle shines spotlight on TCI one-day final top performers

Toowoomba cricket wrapped up its one-day season at the weekend and the action was red hot. The Chronicle ran the rule over the scoreboards to rank our Top 28 A, B, C, D and Reserve grade performers.

Luke Neale bats for Western Districts. Picture: Kevin Farmer

CRICKET: The TCI one-day season was dominated by big innings, quality individual knocks and brilliant bowling.

The season wrapped up on Sunday and the finals across all grades were equally as impressive as the standard of play shown throughout the season.

The A-grade decider was the pick of the finals, but unfortunately for Highfields Railways they

produced arguably their worst performance of the season.

Batting first, the Bulldogs were rolled for just 65 runs inside 20 overs.

Western Districts needed just 11 overs to pass the meagre total with nine wickets in hand.

“I think they (Highfields Railways) had a bit more pressure on them as they were batting first and they hadn’t been to a final in a while,” Western Districts captain Luke Neale said.

“They actually got off to a pretty solid start at 1-34 by the sixth over – after that they fell apart really.”

With the bat in hand Neale was a force to be reckoned with belting 41 runs off 15 balls, however he directed his praise toward his teammates.

“Our keeper Matthew Nunn has been amazing all season for us, and again today he was brilliant, he’s just been consistent with his gloves and batting,” Neale said.

“Matthew Hallas was definitely the pick of the bowlers today but for the season it was really a team effort, they bowled really well as a group.

“The boys also really stepped up this season, it was the first time without some of the older boys, so they did that really well.”

With the one-day finals wrapped up here’s our look at the top performers from every team and every grade.

A-grade

Luke Neale (Western Districts): With his team chasing just 66 for victory Neale tore apart the Highfields Railways bowling attack scoring 41 off just 15 balls.

Matthew Nunn (Western Districts): The Warriors keeper had a great day with the gloves taking four catches.

Matthew Hallas (Western Districts): A blistering spell with the ball saw Hallas claim 4-5 off four overs.

Ben Anderson/Mitchell Kelly (Highfields Railways): There was nothing to celebrate for Highfields but Anderson (16) and Kelly (12) scored nearly half their side’s runs.

Reserve Grade

Highfields Railways Reserve Grade faired a lot better than their A-grade clubmates – sneaking home with a wicket in hand against Metropolitan Easts.

Chasing a 148 for victory – the Bulldogs scored their winning runs in the 39th over.

Zachary Chimes (Highfields Railways): Opening the batting Chimes blasted 40 runs off 28 balls. More than half his runs, 28, came off boundaries. Chimes hit 7 fours and a six in an impressive display.

Arshdeep Singh (Highfields): Singh racked up an impressive 33 of 38 balls in the middle order.

Angus Kelly (Highfields): Alongside Singh, Kelly was solid in the middle order scoring 32 off 64.

Ross Milton (Met Easts): Topped the bowling charts for Met Easts claiming 3-24 off 8 overs.

Kahlem Reardon (Met Easts): Nearly half his runs came by way of boundaries with Reardon scoring 38 off 59 balls.

Joshua Cranston (Highfields Railways): Tore through the Met Easts batting line up taking 4-18 off 5 overs.

Matthew Nunn bats for Wests. Picture: Nev Madsen.

B-grade

After winning the toss Western Districts opted to bat first againts Metropolitan Easts.

Some top notch bowling from Met-Easts restricted Wests to just 84 runs with only two Warriors batsmen reaching double figures.

Met-Easts picked up the winning runs in the 16th over with 7 wickets in hand.

Henry Steer (Western Districts): Top scored for Wests with 14 off 33 balls in the middle order. Steer and teammate Jayson Ackland combined for more than a quarter of their team’s runs.

Jayson Ackland (Western Districts): Scoring 10 off 22 balls in a final isn’t much to celebrate but when you’re one of just two players to reach double figures you deserve a mention.

Mark Alexander (Metropolitan Easts): The pick of the Trojans bowlers with 3-14 off 8 overs. Alexander was also his side’s second top scorer with 20 not out off 33 balls.

Percy Kruger (Met Easts): Kruger took 3-24 in an impressive stint for the Trojans.

Richard Freeman (Met Easts): Topped the scorecard with 31 off 23 balls. Freeman hit 5 fours and a six in his quickfire knock.

Matt Mogg/Adam Kerrigan (Met Easts): Both batsmen scored 14 runs each to help their side to victory.

C-grade

Batting first Northern Brothers Diggers amassed an impressive 5-224 against Metropolitan Easts despite the loss of opener Anthony Guse for just one.

In response Met Easts battled their way to 125 runs.

Wayne Hamlet (NBDCC): Diggers looked in trouble early at 1-3 but Hamlet was rock steady alongside teammates Robert Fenwick and a third batsmen whose details were unavailable on the MyCricket app. Opening the batting, Hamlet hit 5 fours on his way 62 off 82 balls.

Robert Fenwick (NBDCC): Former a great partnership with Hamlet hitting 41 off 56 including seven boundaries.

Daniel Faulkner (NBDCC): The pick of the Diggers bowlers taking 3-17 off seven overs.

NBDCC batsmen: Jason Randell (17 off 23) and Caleb Brown (29 off 21) deserve mention for their efforts with the bat. A NBDCC batsmen also scored 55 off 44 balls but his name was not available on the MyCricket app.

D-grade

Sent into bat after losing the toss, Souths Magpies were all out for 167 in the 38th over.

Western Districts put up a good run chase but fell short – losing by 44 runs.

Michael Lutvey (Souths): Opened the batting and topped the scoring for his side. Lutvey fell just short of a half century scoring 45 off 54 balls including 8 boundaries.

Rustambir Singh (Souths): Singh was impressive in the middle order scoring 42 off 65 in an important knock for his side.

Alexander Callcott (Wests): After his side’s openers went cheaply, Callcott did everything he possibly could with the bat. Callcott was patient and precise batting at first drop – scoring 59 off 101 balls.

Harvinder Khalsa (Souths): The captain was commanding with the ball taking 4-19 off 8 overs.

Cameron Fuhlbohm (Souths): Fuhlbohm took 3-18 off six overs for the Magpies.