Nick Smart blasted a century before Jake Brayshaw turned the screws as Narrabri broke their inter-town silverware drought in emphatic fashion at Collins Park on Sunday.
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After Smart underpinned an imposing 231 with a brilliant 102, Brayshaw snared 7-46 to help the home side dismiss Inverell for 159 and claim their first district trophy since 2002 and first War Veterans Cup since 1994.
A look back at that year shows that Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first black president, OJ Simpson was arrested for the murder of ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and we were introduced to six new ‘Friends’.
“It’s very special. It’s a bit of a surreal feeling at the moment,” skipper Lachlan Cameron said.
He had spoken heading into the final about being spurred on by the opportunity for success after so many years “being the whipping boys”.
“This is the culmination of probably eight years of hard work,” he said.
There have been some tough times in that time but he said it always felt like they were moving forward.
Beaten convincingly by Inverell when they met during the round games, Narrabri made amends with the bat, Smart and Cameron, who hit 50 off 63, setting the foundation with a 94 run second wicket stand.
The two players Inverell skipper Mick Kenny had identified as the big wickets, Smart batted on take Narrabri beyond 200.
“Getting 230 was probably 30 more than what we were setting out for,” Cameron said.
“Inverell to their credit got off to a good start.”
Matt Sparke (36) and Alex Smith (21) had them 0-35 after eight overs on their way to a 58 run opening stand. Sparke’s dismissal, run out by Tom Craig, was a big moment.
The injection of spin twins Brayshaw and Chris Sargent (2-42) further turned the momentum Narrabri’s way as they dried up the runs and pulled Inverell back to 3-99 after 26 overs.
“Sarge put the brakes on a little bit and Jake bowled some hand grenades. He would have been hard to play,” Cameron said.
He couldn’t speak highly enough of Brayshaw and Smart.
“They were two massive efforts – a hundred and a seven-for,” he said.
Cameron said he never really felt like they were out of the game at any stage.
“I always knew the spinners coming on would slow it down,” he said.
“The time I felt comfortable was when we got Mick (Kenny), then I thought we were on the brink of celebrating.”
Kenny was succinct in his assessment.
“We just got outplayed,” he said.
“They got two blokes that scored big runs.”
That was the difference in the end, he said, Smart’s knock particularly.
He doesn’t score a century and they are chasing a much more palatable 150/160.
The skipper led the charge with the ball picking up 4-49, while Joseph Smith and Rodney Blair chimed in with two.
“We didn’t bowl too bad. We just needed a little bit of luck and we didn’t get it,” Kenny said.
They didn’t do themselves any favours in the field, Kenny calculating they probably conceded at least an extra 30 runs.
“Our fielding probably let us down. It was pretty ordinary,” he said.
“We were a bit flat early on and on a wicket like this once you are in, you’re pretty set.”
As was the case when Narrabri played them up in Inverell, he felt the different conditions were a factor.
“The decks are a bit slower. The ball doesn’t get to you quite a quick,” he said.
“Here the ball is to you or past you before you know it.”
“The run-out didn’t help. Sparkey was seeing them well.”
They were also a bit guilty of hitting to the wrong part of the ground off the spinners.
