Captain leads the way in Tahs’ charge to final
WARATAH have qualified for next Sunday’s Darwin top grade cricket one-day final with a stunning six-wicket victory over PINT at the Marrara Cricket Ground yesterday.
PINT set the visitors a competitive 254 for victory, after opener Tim Garner’s impressive 126 from 125 balls.
But ’Tah got off to a flyer in their chase, opener James Seymour belting 52 off 30 deliveries.
Captain and star allrounder Brad Schmulian then continued his stellar form with the bat, finishing 83 not out off 84 balls.
“I’m ecstatic we’re in the final,” he said.
“We’ve got a better team this year than in years gone by.
“We probably haven’t played brilliant cricket, but we’ve played consistently in each game.”
Schmulian – who made 104 not out against Tracy Village last Sunday – was in control, regularly picking up the ones and twos.
“When you’ve got really good batters around you scoring runs quickly, it takes pressure off you, and you can keep the ball on the ground and run hard between the wickets,” he said.
Schmulian and Callum Nancervis (45 off 48) accelerated their chase from the 31st over, going from 3-160 to 3-191 four overs later.
Nancervis smacked a slogsweep six off Ash Norman onto the NT Cricket office roof, then nailed a full-blooded lofted on-drive off paceman Pat Gallow in the 36th over.
The game was all but wrapped up at that stage, Waratah moving to 3-204. He wasn’t done, lofting another six off Gallow in the 40th over, before trying the same shot the next ball and getting bowled.
It was a sombre PINT dress- ingroom after the game, their batsmen not capitalising on Garner’s excellent knock.
“We needed a couple of other guys to stand up with the bat. Our next highest score was only 34 (by Ben Reichstein),” Garner said.
If Darwin beats the NT Emerging Players with a bonus point at Marrara today, it will jump ahead of PINT and take on Waratah in the one-day final.
“It’s disappointing losing and leaving the results up to other games,” Garner said.
“We were short on bowling stocks – our opener Matt Bacon broke down with an injury (and only bowled four overs).”
Meanwhile, Nightcliff’s lean season continued, crashing to defeat against the previously winless Palmerston at Cazalys Oval. The hosts made just 162, but Nightcliff could only manage 145 all-out in reply.
Reuben Wakefield (48 runs) and Lahiru Anthony (59) batted well, but Bryan Miles (11) was the only other batsman to reach double figures.
Wakefield also took 3-26 off 10 overs with the new ball, before Kurt Johnson (6-30) ripped through the Nightcliff batting line-up.
And Tracy Village beat Southern Districts by 80 runs at Freds Pass.
The visitors benefitted from the return of Adelaide Strikers and South Australian big-hitter Jake Weatherald.
And he did not disappoint, smashing 67 off 46 balls, with eight fours and three sixes.
Adi Dave took 3-24 off 10 overs for Districts.