Saturday afternoon the rain stopped and the sun came out long enough for Northern Districts to knock Lower Herbert out of the Grand Final in another close game at Forrest Beach.
Lower Herbert batted first with openers Andrew Bye (18) and Rick Grassi (17) putting early runs in the scorebook. Northern Districts Michael George 3/17 (7) contained Lower Herbert’s run flow with Jayden Swarbrick 2/20 (7) also claiming a couple of cheap wickets. Lower Herbert’s Aiden Tennent (44) fought back to push their score to 7/129 off their 35 overs. Brendan Carey 1/18 (7) bowling for Northern Districts was not only economical but also collected a wicket.
Northern District’s chasing less than four runs an over had an early collapse thanks to Lower Herbert’s Jack Lahrs 2/31 (7) and Errol Cerutti 1/8 (4) putting Lower Herbert back in the game. With the winner of the match going through to next week’s Grand Final Northern Districts Joseph Bonassi (32) turned the game again. With Northern Districts needing only 13 off 18 balls it was Steven Devietti (66no) that bought it all home hitting three sixes in a row to secure the victory and the second position in the Grand Final off Lower Herbert’s Nathan Kemp 1/28 (5).
So on Saturday at 12:00pm again at Forrest Beach Uniteds will take on Northern Districts for the Premiership. Uniteds will not only be looking at back to back Premierships but will be looking at whitewashing the inaugural Steven Chiesa Trophy 5-0 against Northern Districts.
Good luck to both teams as this should be another close game. Saturday after the game everyone will be heading out to the Trebonne Hotel for the Presentation of all the awards and trophies at 7.00pm.