THE Karuah Tea Gardens Cricket Club has three teams vying for grand final positions in the Dungog Cricket Competition.
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The under-12s were in a playoff to go directly into the grand final of their division versus Seaham.
Seaham won the toss, batted first and were always struggling against the determined Sharks bowlers, all of whom bowled well and shared the wickets around.
The Sharks' pursuit of the 75 runs needed began well and continued with the Barry brothers, Lucas and Riley, batting confidently. Lucas reached the mandatory retirement, passing 30, while Riley remained 24 not out to guide the young Sharkies into next week's grand final.
C Grade travelled to Vacy to play the Farmers, with whom they have previously held the upper hand, but finals are sometimes another matter.
That was almost the script for this match when the Sharks, batting first, lost the key wickets of Jim Drinkwater and Aaron Oldersdorf early.
Veteran Bob Zielke got 38 and Brent Johnson 25, then the evolving, reliable Jack Bills stood up to the challenge to stamp his mark with a steady but mature innings of 71 not out to see the Sharks to a competitive 200.
Their turn in the field had to be polished to defend their score and the Farmers were dismissed for 135. The Sharks will contest the preliminary final next week at Dungog High School.
A Grade
The Sharks A grade team finished the regular season as minor premiers, closely followed by their combatants of the day, Hammers. There have been some close encounters during the season and this was no different. Batting first the Hammers were soon in trouble, but, as has been the case before, their tail-order batsmen worked their way out of what appeared insurmountable trouble.
From being 7 for 38 the Hammers managed to get themselves to 108 all out, which would be reasonable to conclude would not be enough, but the Sharks were all out for 105 - just 3 runs short of the required 108.
But all is not lost. The Sharks have a second bite and should be at full strength next week.
-Sam Rees, Publicity
Karuah Tea Gardens
Cricket Club