Ignatius sweeps cricket carnival
IGNATIUS Park swept through the rest of Townsville’s schoolboy cricket scene in a dominant display in the NQ Schools Cup.
Townsville Grammar and rivals Kirwan State High stood no chance and the gulf between Iggy Park and even Southern Cross proved too great to be overcome in a clash between undefeated schools in the final match of the tournament.
Southern Cross reached stumps in the 15-over competition with 77 runs to their name, allowing top order bats Reece Foley (30), Connor Sadler (25no) and Christian Payne (15no) to romp to a nine-wicket victory with four overs to spare.
Ignatius Park coach Chris Bailey said he had hoped for a greater challenge for his side.
“Grammar and Kirwan are relative newcomers to cricket, and while they had a great experience they really didn’t offer us much in terms of competition,” he said.
“We almost used both of those games to get ourselves into form for that game against Southern Cross.”
Bailey said both he and Southern Cross coach Chris Horn had expected a closer fixture than what transpired, given the talent on both sides.
Early wickets and tremendous fielding pressure stalled the Southern Cross batting line-up, which returned to the
pavilion with four wickets in hand but not nearly enough runs to stave off their rivals’ chase.
“Young Reece Foley came out and blasted runs all over the park. Connor was working through a strained back and was doing really well and then Christian basically just took the game with two fists,” Bailey said. “It was heavy hitting to begin from Reece and Connor but Christian came in with all the confidence in the world, just seeing the ball and playing across the line and sending it over the boundary.”
Ingham’s Gilroy Santa Maria mixed team won the intermediate competition, beating an all-boys Southern Cross in the final by nine wickets.
Both sides were undefeated heading into the last game
Hunter Brischetto from William Ross State High was the standout bat of the day, leading his school to a tie for second place.