Downs taught lesson
Rep side beaten in semi-final
CRICKET: A Wade Kilborn master-class shattered Darling Downs Bulls Masters Country Challenge dreams at the weekend.
Keen to book their place in the Gabba final, Darling Downs were cruising at 1-62 chasing Gold Coast’s 129 before Kilborn struck.
The Gold Coast bowler finished with figures of 5-13 in a man of the match performance that also included 37runs in the first innings.
Further smart play from a contingent of medium and slow paced bowlers then kept the Downs to 9-101 at the end of their innings.
Downs coach Kent Reimers praised the Coast’s performance saying his team was “out though”.
“For three quarters of the game we were the better side,” Reimers said.
“We kept them to 129 runs and we were well on our way at 1-62.
“But this is where we need to give credit to the Gold Coast.
“They took the pace out of the ball by bringing on some medium pacers and slow bowlers.
“They really built the pressure - bowling at the pads and wide - and gave us nothing to work with.
“In the end it shows that you can be the better team for three quarters of the game, but if you’re not the better team when it counts the result will not go your way.”
Moving forward Reimers said the squad will be better for the experience.
“Three years ago our performances at this level were poor,” he said.
“But we’ve improved our play a lot and made finals competition two years in a row now.
“That’s a positive when you consider just how strong this competition has become - last year’s finalists did not make the finals this year.
“We’re a lot more consistent now and we’ve learnt some valuable lessons - lessons the players will apply going forward.”