Eastlake claimed the women’s cricket double with their win in the Lynne O’Meara Cup Final with a dominant win over Western District to claim the one-day title on Saturday, repeating their Glenda Hall Shield T20 triumph, also over Wests.
Meanwhile, Queanbeyan and Weston Creek Molonglo will face off in another Grand Final after comfortable wins in their respective 1st Grade semi-finals, repeating this year’s one-day Final, and last season's Douglas Cup decider as well. With the ledger sitting at one apiece over the last twelve months, it shapes as a fitting finale.
Lynne O'Meara Cup
Batting first in the Women’s Final after winning the toss at EPC Solar Park in Phillip, Eastlake bounced back from two early wickets with Marissa Eldridge (41) and Shazia Rahman Zazai adding 70 for the third wicket, and Shazia (55) and Claire Murray (85*) adding 103 for the fourth wicket. It meant that the Eastlake women could post 4/236 from their 40 overs and set a strong target for Wests.
Wests similarly lost an early wicket, but Carly Olsen-Lea and Brie Dillon added 99 for the second wicket to lay the platform for a successful run chase. But Madison Malcolm’s departure at 3/155 triggered a major collapse, losing four wickets for one run, and ultimately 7-21 to leave them reeling.
Dillon fell for an even 100 from just 78 balls in the middle of all that and proved the key wicket as Eastlake’s grip on the white ball double tightened with every wicket.
Dillon’s century in a losing side and Shazia’s 4-38 to go with her earlier half century featured in Player of the Match deliberations, which eventually recognised Murray’s 2-25 on top of her superb unbeaten innings of 85 as the winner of the Kris Britt Medal.
The double completes a strong season for Eastlake’s women’s program, and is the best possible response to losing both finals in 2022/2023, while also presenting the perfect platform for their passionate skipper Carli Eaton to finish her final game with an emotional Premiership.
Lynne O’Meara Cup Grand Final: Eastlake 4/236 (40ov – C. Murray 85*, Shazia Rahman Zazai 55, M. Eldridge 41; M. Phelps 1-29) defeated Western District 9/186 (40ov – B. Dillon 100, C. Olsen-Lea 28; Shazia Rahman Zazai 4-38, Wafa Rahman Zakria 2-23, C. Murray 2-25) at EPC Solar Park in Phillip.
1st Grade Men’s two-day semi-finals
Minor Premiers Queanbeyan flexed their superior table position when it suited, only needing a draw over Ginninderra down at Chisholm to progress through to the Grand Final. And so they did, batting well into the second day before declaring at 6/458 from 111 overs.
Tyler van Luin (130), Raakin Rahman (94), Mark Solway (62), and Dean Solway (52*) were all among the runs before the declaration, at which point Ginninderra captain Jordie Misic conceded there was little to no chance of chasing the mammoth total down, the teams shaking hands before the Tigers faced a ball.
Sent in at Stirling, Weston Creek Molonglo recovered from 4/39 to be eventually bowled out by ANU for 171 from 71.1 overs. Jeremy Nicholson took 5-46 for the Students, and Lachie Simpson and Felix Bennett both took two wickets each as Josh Myburgh’s 41 was the highest of only three double figure scores for the ‘Creek.
But in reply Fionn Parker’s 24 at no.8 was the top score for ANU, as Harry Medhurst (5-29) and Josh Myburgh (3-24) tore through the Students to roll them for 98 in 39 overs and take the upper hand on the semi-final completely. Amit Sharma (52*) and Robbie Trickett (33*) batted WCM into the Grand Final, reaching 0/89 in their second innings when the match was called.
Lower Grade Semi-finals
2nd Grade: Duane Bush’s 68 against Wests led Queanbeyan through to the 2nd Grade GF, despite the Bluebags being bowled out for 154, with Jack Searl taking 5-49 for the Lions. Skipper Kurt Johnstone’s 63 was the lone hand in Wests’ reply of 142 all out, leaving Harry O’Rourke and Bush to bat Queanbeyan to safety, reaching 2/94 in 34 overs.
They’ll play Weston Creek Molonglo as they did in both white ball finals this season, after WCM batted well into the second day at ANU North to reach 7/540 and declaring. Opener Josh McIntyre made 104, and no.7 Jason McNally (104) and no.8 Lachlan Noble (100*) added 153 for the sixth wicket as the ‘Creek batted Ginninderra out of the game completely. As they did in 1st Grade, the Tigers conceded without facing a ball.
3rd Grade: Down at Chisholm, Tuggeranong veteran Paul Nemes made 103 as his side posted 264 from 90.2 overs, before turning around and bowling Ginninderra out for 224 to claim the first innings win. Skipper Jarrad Nuss made 88 for the Tigers, while Grant Miller finished with 5-58 to put Tuggeranong through to the decider.
Queanbeyan will play a third opponent in their third Grand Final for the season in 3s, beating Weston Creek Molonglo by three wickets at Kippax. Ishan Dalvi took 5-49 from 43.2 overs as the ‘Creek were bowled out for 225, with Joseph Mendis making 61. In reply, Matthew Rebus made 74 and Peter Solway finished 49* in the run chase as the Bluebags reached the target in 72 overs.
4th Grade: Wests recovered from 4/28 against Eastlake at Kaleen to be eventually bowled out for 203 in 93 overs, with Ben Keens (61) and Avyukth Sudharsan (58) leading the way. In reply Ben Allport took 4-31 as the Demons were bowled out for 145.
In the other semi-final at Freebody, Weston Creek Molonglo had five different wicket-takers as they rolled Queanbeyan for 153, before Peter Radford’s 75 pushed the ‘Creek to 222 in reply and a lead of 69. Trying to force an outright result, Queanbeyan declared three down for 130 from 20 overs, only for WCM to successfully chase down the required 62-run target in 13.2 overs.
Other Grand Finals:
5th Grade: ANU 160 (39.2 overs – E. Huang 49; G. Alexander 4-14) defeated Queanbeyan 108 (33.1 overs – S. Cross 34; M. Jaggers 6-30) at O’Connor
Colts: Canberra Grammar 199 (50 overs – A. Mahajan 64) lost to Radford College 3/202 (39.3 overs – A. Weerasooriya 107*)
Upcoming Grand Finals
- 1st Grade: Queanbeyan vs Weston Creek Molonglo, EPC Solar Park in Phillip (Fri-Sun, 11am)
- 2nd Grade: WCM vs Queanbeyan, Stirling Oval (Sat-Sun, 11am)
- 3rd Grade: Tuggeranong vs Queanbeyan, Chisholm 1 (Sat-Sun, 11am)
- 4th Grade: Western District v WCM, Kaleen (Sat-Sun, 11am)
Article by Brett McKay
Images courtesy Maun Luke Photography