Wests given the green light as A-grade champs

WESTERN Districts have been awarded the Toowoomba Cricket A-grade title after the finals were cancelled.

LEADING LIGHT: Shaun McCarthy’s form with the ball helped Western Districts to the Toowoomba A-grade title. Picture: Nev Madsen

CRICKET: It wasn’t the way they wanted to win, but nevertheless Western Districts will enjoy the latest piece of silverware to enter their trophy cabinet.

They have been announced by Toowoomba Cricket as A-grade champions for the 2019/20 season following the cancellation of the finals due to the threat of coronavirus.

It marks back-to-back titles for Wests in the premier division, who lost just one match throughout the two-day season to finish atop the standings at the end of the regular season.

Harding-Madsen Shield winners Metropolitan-Easts finished in second, with University rounding out the top three.

After being defeated in the semi-final phase of the inter-district competition by Mets, Wests were able to recover with a near flawless A-grade campaign.

It started with a win over Northern Brothers Diggers, before claiming a decisive outright defeat of Southern Districts.

They continued through the opening four rounds with four wins, before a pair of draws in a row.

They were again able to down Souths, before their unbeaten run came to an end in the final round of the regular season with a narrow loss to Mets.

Nevertheless, Western Districts had built up enough of a lead to sit atop the standings, something captain Luke Neale said was a reward for their consistency.

“It’s obviously one of those things that everyone in the sporting world is in the same boat,” Neale said.

“It is what it is, and it paid for us to be consistent throughout the season.

“We would’ve loved to have played in a grand final but it is still pleasing to come away with a premiership.”

Neale said his team was able to bounce back from a mixed start to the season, recovering from an unsuccessful Harding-Madsen Shield campaign.

“We probably didn’t start the season the way we wanted to. We dropped one to Laidley and then Mets gave us a bit of a touch up,” he said.

”After that we went back to the drawing board and were able to steadily improve throughout the two-day competition.

“We had a little hiccup in the last round on a tyring pitch, but we were hoping to put that one behind us going into the grand final.

“At times early in the season we were bowling to sides of the wickets and letting batsmen get off strike and keep the scoreboard ticking over.

“We were able to bowl a lot more consistently as the season went on and tired batsmen down.”

The success carries on from the T20 A-grade title the side was able to win.

Unfortunately due to rain the competition was heavily shortened, however Neale said they were still happy to claim the win.

“We only played the one round in the end. We had a few younger boys in the team which was good to expose them to some A-grade cricket,” he said.

“The enjoyment they had in that competition made the rest of us get up for it as well.

“The grand final was a hotly contested game with both teams at full strength.”

While there is an uncertainty as to the future of all sports for the moment, Neale said he hopes Wests are able to maintain as many players as they can.

“We’ll lose Sam (Neale) who is going to have a crack at playing in Brisbane,” he said.

“Hopefully we’ll have everybody else back on track and we can keep a similar group.

“We had a few young blokes that started to find their way and will be looking to consolidate themselves.”