Congestion at top of the leader board as semi-finals approach

It’s a fast and furious run into the end of the season for Gilgandra junior cricketers, with it being very congested at the top of the leader board. As the competition heads into its final round this coming Saturday, our three under 12B Gilgandra teams, are all in the hunt for a chance at the title, an amazing achievement for the small club.

Under 12B Lightning most recently came-up against competition leaders, CYMS Green who have been in top form all season and remain undefeated. Lightning put in a solid effort with the bat to post 107 (adjusted). Oscar Medd and Sam Tobin shared the top score with 18 each through some great batting.

Lightning showed good competitive spirit to challenge the CYMS batters, but were just not at their normal standard in the field, and let CYMS score a lot of easy runs for them to remain top of the table. Sam Tobin was again strong with the ball taking 3/20 with Ben Mudford and Harrison Newton each taking a wicket and bowling well.

The team will need to return to their level of play that has seen them through the season to secure their spot in the finals.

Storm had a great win on Saturday with Jacob Fordham the stand-out with the ball taking 3/6 off his two overs. Jock Mills led with the bat hitting 19 runs off 13 balls, while Kurt McBurnie had his best game of the season, taking a great catch and continuing to improve with bat and ball. Storm are also well-and-truly in the mix for a semi-final start, but again will need a strong game in the final round this weekend to secure their spot.

Thunder put in one of their best performances all year in playing Narromine Mixed Black, who certainly pushed them all the way. There was very little in the contest, with the game eventually going Thunder’s way, thanks largely to their solid effort in the field with two runouts and some great bowling in taking 10 wickets all up. This proved the difference in the end with the final score, 128–109.

Mitch Cosier had an impressive game hitting 27 from 13 deliveries, taking three wickets with the ball, and a showy direct hit run-out. There was some great running between the wickets by the team, particularly for Claudia Harrison and Lucy Zell in their maiden season. Thunder will play top-of-the-table CYMS Green next week, which will likely determine the minor premiership.

On another issue, Club President, Randall Medd, said that he is trying to resolve the scoring issues that meant the Storm have had one game not recorded. There have been numerous issues with the online scoring and tablets through the season, and he has been working with the association and Cricket NSW to resolve the problem.

The corrected points will be eventually used to decide the finals teams with Gilgandra teams likely to be well-placed. In the other grades, the majority of under 14 and under 16s games were called-off in Dubbo due to the storm earlier in the week.

An update will provided next week on how a few of the other teams have fared for the season, where some of our older Gilgandra players are representing.