Underdogs Northern Districts having lost against Uniteds on the previous four occasions as well as last year’s Grand Final dominated with Player of the Grand Final Troy Menegon batting them to Victory.
Forrest Beach was again the venue for Herbert River Cricket’s Grand Final with Uniteds battling it out against Northern Districts. Captain Chris Bradshaw won the toss and elected to bat. Uniteds struck early twice and at drinks Northern Districts were a quite ordinary 2/67. No one realised what was to come when Troy Menegon (150) ramped up the run rate including one Matthew Chiesa 1/58 (7) over that went for 3 sixes and 2 fours. Steven Devietti (47) by comparison made some quite leisurely runs at the other end. Uniteds bowlers were all very expensive but Brendan Devietti 4/38 (7) at least managed a few wickets in return.
Chasing 244 at nearly seven runs an over United struggled losing early wickets. Callan Solari (34) and Wes Seri (23) provided some resistance and at the drink break the game could still have gone either way. Northern Districts Damian Floyd 4/24 (6) and Michael Devietti 2/28 (7) both collected wickets while slowing the run rate and by the time Michael George 3/18 (6.1) claimed the last wicket Uniteds were all out for 156 despite a last ditch fight back from Daniel Brown (29).
So with Northern Districts winning the Premiers Cavatti Shield it was out to the Trebonne Hotel for the Presentation of the rest of the awards with Northern Districts Captain’s day only getting better when he not only claimed Player of the year but Best Bowling aggregate and most wickets which he tied with Combined Services Michael Rooker. Lower Herbert’s Kyle Phillips 6/17 (7) managed the only 6 wicket hall.
It was a batsmen season this year with Lower Herbert Aiden Tennent 464 (Ave: 66.29) narrowly missing out by 10 runs against Uniteds Callan Solari 474 runs (Ave: 79.00) who also scored 133no against Combined Services. Aiden also scored two hundreds (117no & 131no) against Uniteds while Craig Menegon (128) scored a hundred against Combined Services. Best Average went to Lower Herbert’s Sam Strong off 202 runs with an average of 101.
In the catching awards it was tie between Northern Districts Steven Devietti and Lower Herbert‘s Andrew Carr both on eight catches. The Wicket keeping went to Lower Herbert’s Lachlan Tennent with seven catches and three stumping’s.
Hebert River had a big representative year playing Homehill three times as well as the Canefield Ashes. We had a huge win against the Bulls Masters at the Over40T20 Challenge. Last but not least another successful year at the Goldfield Ashes with our B1 side winning two of their three games. So needlessly to say it was a hard slog picking trophies for this category. Some were no brainers like Jonte Grazioli as Junior Representative Player of the year and Steven Devietti as the Herbert River 2nd XI Representative Player of the year. The Herbert River 1st XI Representative Player of the year was a lot closer affair with Combined Services Brett Gilbey finally taking the honours and Troy Menegon winning Representative Players Player of the year, an award that is voted on by fellow players.
The special awards were next with Jayden Swarbrick for Northern Districts getting the Encouragement Award and Lachlan Tennent claiming the Most Improvement Award. The next two awards are truly special as they are awarded not on stats but on playing in the spirit of the game and going above and beyond for the good of the game and of the club. Best and Fairest Award was presented to Northern Districts Michael Devietti with David Vettoretto winning Clubman of the Year also from Northern Districts. United day wasn’t a total lost with them taking home the Inaugural Steven Chiesa Trophy which they won four games to one against Northern Districts.
Although the official cricket season is finished the cricket is far from over with the “PartyTime”Over40T20 Challenge just around the corner and who knows when a Saturday Super Slog might pop up. Townsville is also running a girls competition to cash in on the Big Bash. All the details are on our website or Facebook page. Finally can I pass on a big thank you from everyone here at Herbert River Cricket for all our dedicated volunteers who week in week out do such an enormous job and who we would be lost without. Thank You. See you at the Cricket.