The finals of local A-grade Twenty20 were played last Saturday at Donnelly-Welsh and Thistle Park turf grounds.
The first game at Thistle Park saw Nambucca Hotel (2/109) have an eight wicket win over Warrell Creek (6/99).
Matt Lindsay (50 not out) and Dean Welsh (38 not out) combined well with an 80 run third wicket partnership to give the Hotel their win in the 14th over.
The other semi final at Donnelly-Welsh saw Nam-bucca Heads (7/173) beat Macksville Ex-Services (95) by 78 runs. Greg Watts top scored for Nambucca Heads with 78.
He hit six sixes and six fours in a power house display of batting while facing just 39 deliveries.
Ex-Services was travelling well at 4/80 after 11 over but a big collapse saw them all out for 95 in the 16th over. Justin Saker was the best with 4/19 from four overs.
The A-grade final was then played at Thistle Park turf where the Nambucca Hotel batted first and were all out for 134 in 20 overs.
Dane Luffman (37), Dean Welsh (23), Matt Lindsay (23) and Mick Stennett (20) all batted well with Michael Stennett and Dane Luffman getting their team’s highest partnership of 53 for their third wicket.
Troy Rixon with 5/19 from four overs bowled well while Josh Byrne chipped in with 3/17.
Nambucca Heads in reply made a real game but came up six runs short after their 20 overs.
Peter Lee top scored with 52 from 45 balls while Aaron Clarke scored 33 from 33 deliveries. Nambucca Heads finished with 5/128 with Troy Rixon remaining 15 not out. Nambucca Hotel won by six runs in A-grade.
Macksville Country Club (72) batted first against Taylors Arm (5/73). Neale Howle (29) was Country Club top scorer while Kevin Laverty and Nigel Summer took two wickets each for Taylors Arm.
Taylors Arm in reply lost their first three batters for a “duck” each but their were rescued by John Rowe with a not out innings of 55. Taylors Arm won in the 14th over by five wickets.
The other semi final at Biffin Field saw Bowraville (72) all out to Talarm in their last over. Elliot Keen (19 not out) was their top scorer while John Cowan and Jenny Brabant each took two wickets for Talarm.
Talarm batters needed just 12 overs to score their winning runs with Bryan Cowan (23), John Cowan (18 not out) and Colin Moxon 15 not out all batting well.
The B-grade final was then played at Coronation Park where Taylors Arm batting first scored 7/127 in their 20 overs. Ben Mulvihill (55) and Rick Fry (25 not out) top scored and had the team’s highest partnership of 59.
Jenny Brabant was Talarm’s best with 3/20 from her four overs.
Talarm then batted with openers Chris Budden (22) and Bryan Cowan (23) getting off to a handy start.
Colin Moxon (55) continued with the great batting but with the fall of wickets the game could have gone either way.
Talarm’s tail held it together and scored its winning run with three balls to play and two wickets to spare.
Talarm 5/128 and winning by two wickets. John Rowe was Taylors Arm best with 2/10.
Next Saturday will see the start of 40/40: Macksville Country Club v Warrell Creek at Thistle Park; Nambucca Heads v Taylors Arm at Coronation Park; Talarm v Bowraville at EJ Biffin Fields; Nambucca Hotel v Macksville Ex-Servcies at Donnelly-Welsh.
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