Yass wins Stribley Shield final at Wagga
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CRICKET: Yass defeated Wagga Wagga in an extremely close cricket final of the Stribley Shield at Robertson Oval at Wagga Wagga on Sunday.
Both Wagga and Yass entered the fray at full strength, with Yass aiming for its eighth title in just 20 seasons of competing in the Stribley Shield competition.
Wagga presented with a virtually unchanged side that defeated Cootamundra three weeks ago while Yass provided a good blend of youth and experience.
Wagga had won all three preliminary rounds and were minor premiers, while Yass’s only defeat was against Wagga in the opening round.
The final game went down to the last over when Wagga fell seven runs short. Yass’s victory was achieved by fine contributions from Harden’s Martin Brown & Billy Bolger. Brown was outstanding with the ball in a spell of six overs which only cost 11 runs and changed the complexion of the match after Wagga got off to a flying start. Bolger was also outstanding as Yass’s main spearhead and chimed in with two important top order wickets in his second spell.
Yass won the toss and elected to ball on a dry pitch with a quick outfield.
Their innings got off to a poor start when on the fourth ball of the innings captain David Field was out for a duck after getting a fine edge through to wicketkeeper Kendal to a delivery from Sean Gaynor.
The innings was then consolidated by Daniel Poidevin and Adam Forth with god stroke play.
With the score on 59, Poidevin’s innings came to an end when he mishit a drive and was caught in the cover off Nathan Smith for 29. This caused a mini-collapse as Forth, Andrew Swaffield and Craig Irwin soon followed leaving Yass at 5 for 86.
This brought together the game-changing partnership of 92 runs between Nick Pollack and Tim Hazell. Pollack was brutal in smashing the ball to all parts of the ground. However Hazel’s contribution of 12 in the partnership can’t be underestimated as he was able to continue to give the strike back to Pollack as well turn ones into two’s.
On 178 Hazel was finally out and one run later Pollack was also out for a well-made 81.
Yass’s tail wagged with further contributions from Brent Poidevin (20) and Beau Walker 24 not out.
Yass after 50 overs were eight wickets for 227. Nathan Smith the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 35 from 10 overs.
Yass took out the Stribley Shield 2016 at Wagga Wagga at the weekend.
Wagga’s innings got off to a flying start with openers Matt Tom and Will Morley both prepared to flash hard and chance their luck.
However a bowling change in the seventh over reaped instant reward when Craig Irwin had Morley LBW for 19. He then followed up a few overs later with the wicket of Tom for 21, leaving Wagga at two from 53 from only 15 overs.
The complexion of the game then changed when both Martin Brown and Daniel Poidevin were able to strangle the batsmen and scoring dried up.
Brown had the impressive spell of six overs for only 11 runs while Poidevin claimed two wickets for 17 from 10 overs.
Jono Nicholl however was proving difficult to remove and while at the crease Wagga was still a chance. He found likely allies in Sean Gaynor (15) and Sami Shohani (18) until the re-introduction of Billy Bolger back into the attack claimed both.
As the overs started to run out Nicoll started to hit out and with Luke Kendall got Wagga back into the game requiring less than 10 runs an over for the final three overs.
However Craig Irwin and Beau Walker were able to close out the innings with Wagga finishing on eight for 220, seven runs short.
Best bowling figures were those of Poidevin 2 for 17, Craig Irwin 3 for 53 and Billy Bolger 2 for 51.
The Yass team comprised David Field (captain) Daniel Poidevin, Nick Pollock, Craig Irwin, Adam Forth, Tim Hazell, Andrew Swaffield, Matt Lawrence, Martin Brown, Beau Walker, Bill Bolger, and Brent Poidevin. The Wagga side consisted of Matthew Tom (captain),Will Morley, Will Gardner, Jon Nicoll, Michael Whiting, Gage Baxter, Adam Newcombe, Sean Gaynor, Nathan Smith, Safin Shohani, Lachlan Kendall and Tom Doig.
Chris Doyle (Yass) at Tim Doolan Oval in Harden recently.
