Date of Event North Shore Junior Cricket Association: Sun Dec 8, 2019 5:00PM
Congratulations to our NSJCA U15 side, who defeated Blacktown by 5 wickets in their Grand Final on Sunday at Allan Border Oval to win the EG Weblin Shield for 2019.
Congratulations to coach Brett Elliott, assistant coach Thomas Elliott and manager Tony Bill, along with all the players who combined to win 10 of their 12 games under the new Metropolitan Youth Championship format in its inaugural season.
North Shore Captain Matthew Sidhu lost the toss and Blacktown elected to bat on an excellent wicket and fast outfield.
Having been given first use of the ball, North Shore produce another great opening spell coupled with very good fielding which saw Luke Callanan (3/37) strike early and Matthew Sidhu (4/44) consolidate the strong position as Blacktown were restricted to 4 for 63 in 20 overs. North Shore continued to toil away as Blacktown set to the task of posting a competitive total. A combination of good batting, excellent running between wickets and the fast outfield saw Blacktown rebuild their innings to finish 8 for 198 off their 50 overs.
North Shore had been set a very competitive 199 runs to chase in 50 overs which, if achieved, would be the highest successful run chase in an EG Weblin Shield final since the format was changed from 60 overs to 50 overs in the 2015 season.
With the bat, North Shore started with the right intent but good bowling and the loss of a couple of early wickets restricted the runs so that after 14 overs North Shore were behind the rate at 2 for 32. This prompted some good aggressive batting as Damon Pin (24) and then Will Elliott (27) produced vital partnerships with Charlie Anderson (57) to tilt the game back in favour of North Shore. Then as it can in cricket, momentum swung sharply back to Blacktown with the lost two wickets leaving North Shore 5 for 147, still needing 52 for victory with just over 12 overs remaining. With the pitch playing well North Shore needed some smart cricket and this was supplied admirably by Lachie Bill (34 not out) and Nathan Cavenor (25 not out) who saw out the afternoon, passing the required target with 23 balls to spare. Lachie Bill brought up the winning runs with a cracking lofted straight drive over the field that fell agonising short of clearing the boundary.
The win was a great reward for the group who played good positive cricket all year, with every player contributing to the overall success of the team. This is the third premiership shield for this cohort (Arch Cawsy Shield in 2016 and WG Foster Shield in 2014), and it is the first time the EG Weblin Shield has been won by North Shore.
Congratulations go to all our NSW Youth Championship teams who represented the North Shore in this competition with many team and individual achievements and victories.