THREE teams remain in the Elders Cup premiership race with Coolac the first team through to the grand final after Saturday’s semi-finals.
Coolac scored an impressive five-wicket win over premiers Tumut Plains in the major semi-final at the Bull Paddock.
Tumut Plains batted first after winning the toss and Luke Armstrong hit an impressive 50 which included eight boundaries. However, he simply didn’t get enough support, with the next highest scoring batsman Steve Gill with 18.
Plains were all out for 112 after 36.1 overs.
Samuel Sharman had a blinder with the ball, taking the crucial wickets of Armstrong, Nathan Butt, Steve Gill and Richard Nillesen, and all the other Coolac bowlers could hold their heads high.
Coolac then hauled the target in in 33 overs, losing five wickets in the process. Tim Graham top scored with 38. Will Brown was terrific with the ball, taking 2/7 from five overs.
Armstrong said it was a good game of cricket.
“We didn’t field or bowl poorly; they just played a little bit better than us,” he said.
“We just didn’t get enough runs; 112 is just not enough against a class side like Coolac.”
Wyangle scored a convincing 53-run win over the Adelong Donkeys at Stan Crowe Oval in Gundagai to qualify for the preliminary final against Tumut Plains.
Wyangle batted first and were all out for 131 after 39.5 overs. Jason Bulger top scored with 39, including five fours and a six, while Ronan Butler chimed in with 29 and Ryan Bulger 26.
Ben Hardwick was Adelong’s top wicket-taker with 4/43.
Wyangle then bowled and field with brutal efficiency, dismissing Adelong for just 78 in 25.5 overs. John Breed took 5/23 from 10 overs.
“It was a solid win in the end,” Wyangle’s Dave Shedden said.
“I thought the Adelong boys bowled well and made our lads work hard for their runs. Ryan (Bulger) was once again solid at the top of the order and received good support from his uncle Jason and also Ronan Butler. To be fair to the Adelong boys I think that they just had an off day with the bat. In saying that nothing can be taken away from John Breed’s performance with the ball.”
Shedden said Wyangle have a big week coming up to prepare for the clash with Tumut Plains.
“I think Ryan will be encouraging the boys to get into the nets as often as they can this week and concentrate on technical issues that might be creeping into the their games,” he said. “We haven’t beaten the Plains boys since last year’s major semi and we had a much different line up back then. One thing is we will approach Saturday’s preliminary final with an underdog mentality. The pressure will be on the minor premiers and they deserve to start sound favourites after thumping us soundly on the two occasions that we have played this season but then again anything can happen in the finals.”
