General News
14 March, 2025
Gower’s regal double
By GARY WALSH KINGOWER has crowned a near faultless season by winning the Upper Loddon Cricket Association grand final, beating Wedderburn Band by 10 runs on Saturday at Arnold. Having already won the Loddon Herald T20 cup earlier in the season...
By GARY WALSH
KINGOWER has crowned a near faultless season by winning the Upper Loddon Cricket Association grand final, beating Wedderburn Band by 10 runs on Saturday at Arnold.
Having already won the Loddon Herald T20 cup earlier in the season, Kingower survived a late charge led by Band batsman Andrew Brett to seal the premiership cup.
Player of the match Brett’s 60 from 75 balls, including four massive sixes, threatened to snatch the game away from the favourites, who compiled a gettable 9-142 batting first.
Wedderburn needed 33 runs from the last seven overs, with Brett in imperious form on 55 and four wickets remaining.
However, the Band number three was visibly wilting in the heat, leaning on his bat between balls and struggling to run quick singles, and when he was clean bowled by Kyle Simpson with the score on 119, Wedderburn’s hopes looked dashed.
The Band needed 18 off the last over, and a four from the first ball to Steve Giorlando kept the tension high, but Simpson only allowed another three runs and Kingower was able to celebrate a fourth premiership in eight seasons.
Arnold’s sparse, dusty outfield was not an ideal surface for a grand final, but both teams fielded impressively given the conditions, and runs were hard to come by.
Four players from Kingower’s vaunted batting lineup got starts but failed to push on to high scores.
Stoic opener Matt Rowe compiled a patient 29 from 84 balls to be his side’s top scorer.
At the half-way mark – 20 overs – the Gower were 1-50 and needed a spark.
The usual suspects in Jayden Leach, Kyle Simpson and Blake Pickles were unable to dominate as they had done in previous matches. Leach, who was awarded the player of the year award after the grand final, made 28 from 40 balls before being adjudged LBW.
Simpson hit out for 25 off 22 balls, but Pickles was dismissed for just five from 15 balls.
David Rose upped the pace with 20 from 10 balls, but wickets tumbled as Kingower tried to boost the score, losing 3-15 in the last five overs.
Wedderburn certainly had the batting firepower to overtake the 142 made by the Gower, but in the opening overs scoring was incredibly slow.
Tight bowling from Leach and Simpson kept the Band to 1-9 from 10 overs, with Finn Turnbull spectacularly run out by a direct hit from Will Deason for a duck off 25 balls.
Brad Holt was out for 18 off 70 deliveries when the score was just 34 in the 21st over.
Wedderburn had batted itself into a situation where it needed 109 from 19 overs, and Brett needed support.
Isaac Holt (19 off 12 balls) improved the run rate, but he was caught off the left-arm medium pace of Ben Rose.
Will Holt (7 from 14) fell to the seemingly inevitable, out to Pickles in the spinner’s first over, continuing the bowler’s record of grabbing a wicket immediately after taking the ball.
Brett continued to bat on, with the target slipping away rapidly, but he breathed life into the contest, taking 19 off a Pickles over, including a six that landed on the pavilion roof.
With 10 overs remaining, Wedderburn needed 48 to win, but Kingower tightened the screws again and allowed only 21 runs from the next six overs.
A spectacular caught and bowled by Ben Rose was a fitting way to take the last wicket to fall, with the Band ending with 8-142 from their 40 overs.
Leach didn’t take a wicket, but his eight overs included three maidens and he gave up only 12 runs.
Simpson and Rowe took a wicket each while keeping the run rate down, and Ben Rose finished with 3-24 to claim the bulk of the spoils.
Pickles took 2-40, with his figures damaged by the 19 taken from his last over.
GRAND FINAL SCOREBOARD
Kingower d Wedderburn
Kingower
M. Rowe b J. Van de Wetering 30
W. Deason c M. Smith b I. Holt 9
J. Leach lbw S. Giorlando 28
K. Simpson b I. Holt 25
B. Pickles c B. Holt b J. Van de Wetering 5
L. Dejong c&b A. Postle 1
D. Rose c D. Benaim b W. Holt 20
T. Murphy c F. Turnbull b A. Postle 5
T. Hywood not out 7
B. Rose run out M. Smith 3
N. Leach not out 1
Extras 8
Total 9/142
Bowling: A. Postle 8-3-26-2, W. Holt 7-1-23-1, I. Holt 8-1-28-2, D. Benaim 8-1-24-0, S. Giorlando 3-0-14-1, J. Van de Wetering 6-1-19-2.
Wedderburn
B. Holt b B. Pickles 18
F. Turnbull run out W. Deason 0
A. Brett b K. Simpson 60
I. Holt c W. Deason b B. Rose 19
W. Holt c J. Leach b B. Pickles 7
M. Smith b B. Rose 2
D. Benaim lbw M. Rowe 6
S. Giorlando not out 8
A. Postle c&b B. Rose 4
J. Van de Wetering not out 2
Extras 6
Total 8/132
Bowling: J. Leach 8-3-12-0, K. Simpson 6-1-18-1, M. Rowe 8-2-24-1, L. Dejong 6-2-13-0, B. Pickles 6-0-40-2, B. Rose 6-2-24-3.