As the dust from Gunnedah’s Connolly Cup batting collapse settled on a lush Wolseley Oval late Sunday afternoon, Gunnedah skipper Blake Small grimaced and said: “Very, very hard loss.”
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The home side had just blown a chance to remain undefeated in pursuit of back-to-back Connolly Cup titles, having lost seven wickets for 20 runs after cruising at 3-101, chasing Narrabri’s 130, in the third-round clash.
When No.10 Gary Briggs (1) fell to spinner Justin Knight (3-13 off 10 overs) on the first ball of the last over, the improbable had become reality for undefeated Narrabri – Gunnedah out for 121.
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“We tried to take it deep and let our launch power do it but it just didn’t work,” Small said.
“They played the better game, they set better fields. All in all, it was a great win for them boys. They deserve it.”
Small said Gunnedah’s two run-outs hurt the side the most – himself and then Isaac Harris going within seven runs of each other as Gunnedah slumped to 7-113.
And he admitted that it would be hard for the side to regroup “with [Gunnedah’s] first XI taking a fair few players off us”.
“But we should have a team there to do it [but] it’s gonna be very hard from here, though.”
Ty Baker (30) top-scored for Narrabri after they we were sent in.
Small (3-18 off 5.2 overs), James McGowan (2-17 off seven) and Darrin Cameron (2-27 off 10) were Gunnedah's best bowler.
Gunnedah openers Jay Urquhart (39) and Jake Vigor (26) were the top-scorers for the home side.
