Downs duo on show in Qld Country side
Toowoomba’s Shaun McCarthy and Chris Hall have helped Queensland Country to third place overall at the national championships this week.
Held in Geraldton, Western Australia, the side had set out to win a back-to-back title.
However some tough games against East Asia Pacific and New South Wales stopped them in their tracks.
On Thursday Queensland were second on the ladder after a nail-biting win over New South Wales.
They needed to win their last two one-day matches on Friday and Saturday to stay in the running to retain the title.
Qld won the toss on Friday and sent East Asia Pacific in to bat.
They made 9-252 before Qld finished all out for 225.
“We just couldn’t chase down their total,” McCarthy said.
While it put Qld Country out of the running to be crowned champions they still went into their final game against Victoria hungry for a win.
“The guys were a bit upset at the time but I’m glad we were able to bounce back and play so well against Victoria for our last game,” McCarthy said.
❝The guys were a bit upset at the time but I’m glad we were able to bounce back... for our last game. — Shaun McCarthy
After winning three out of their five pool games Qld also made it into the Twenty20 finals but were knocked out by New South Wales.
“They put on a big score, one of their guys scored 100 and we just couldn’t chase it down,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy admitted it was a disappointing finish to his fifth national country cricket championships and Hall’s debut as Qld’s wicket keeper.
“We played so well together as a team and we were so close,” McCarthy said.
“I thought we were going to go quite close (in the one-days) but we ended up falling short.”
He said it only fuels the fire to make the side next year.
“They’re a great bunch of guys to play with and good quality cricketers too,” he said.