For the three previous seasons Blake Small had led Gunnedah’s Connolly Cup side – each year overseeing an improvement that started with a wooden spoon and culminated in a semi-final defeat last season.
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This season Gunnedah reached a new pinnacle, making Sunday’s final against Pilliga at Wolseley Park. And for a while it looked like Gunnedah’s long wait for another Connelly Cup would continue as Pilliga were seemingly cruising to victory at 6-107, chasing 123 and with plenty of overs left.
That’s when Small turned to one of his veterans, Vinnie Winsor, a man unbowed by years of Connolly Cup failures, whom fellow Gunnedah veteran Shayne Riordan described as bowling “donkey drops”, or “very slow” deliveries.
It proved to be a judicious decision, with Winsor claiming three of the last four wickets, and taking the catch that removed the other batsman, as Pilliga imploded – losing their final four wickets for two runs to be all out for 109 in the 42 second over. It was surely one of the great Connolly Cup comebacks.
Winsor finished with 4-19 off 8.4 overs, to leave Small in an emotional state post-match. “There’s no words to describe it … stoked,” he said. “Vinnie had been off for a few overs and came back on and done the job for us.”
Small admitted that he thought the game was slipping away. “It was theirs to win, and they threw it away,” he said, adding: “It’s unbelievable. Words can’t describe the feeling at the moment.”
He said Gunnedah’s last Cup triumph was 15 years ago. He had fulfilled a long-held dream, he agreed. “The main thing you want to do is win cricket for Gunnedah, really. It’s just an unbelievable feeling,” he said.
After playing 12 years of Connolly Cup without success, Winsor admitted that the “emotions were running” over the thought of losing the final, but he shut that out by focusing on bowling a good line and length and hoped “they got themselves out”.
He shared the victory his son and teammate, Trent. “It is pretty special to win one with him,” he said.
Gunnedah won the toss and batted. They lost their first wicket on 33, when Kaleb McIlveen went for six. When his opening partner, Adam McGuirk, fell for 19, Gunnedah were 2-51.
From there wickets fell at regular intervals. No.5 Stan Gaynor top-scored with a 62-ball 27, with Justin Knight the chief destroyer – 5-29 off 10 overs.
In reply, Pilliga lost opener Brendon Couley with the score on two, and then were 3-32. No.4 Daniel Hamilton, the top-scorer with 36, No.5 Ty Baker (23) and No.6 Josh Trindall (20) handed Pilliga the ascendancy, before the collapse.
