On Sunday the Narromine District cricket team travelled to Wellington for a chance to claim the Macquarie Brewery Shield. Last week it was reported that Narromine had never won the shield, this was due to some misinformation.
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Narromine previously won it 60 years ago, so it had been a while between drinks.
During the regular round robin matches, Wellington had finished as minor premiers with Narromine in second place. Both teams had three wins, with Wellington finishing on top due to a better percentage.
Narromine lost the toss and were asked to have a field by the Wellington captain, Bart and Sambo took the new rock and while unlucky not to take any wickets in the first session, bowled an excellent tight line, giving the Wellington openers nothing.
At the first drinks break Wellington were 0/52, Bart had bowled nine straight and as soon as play resumed picked up the first wicket of the innings in his 10th over. He finished with the excellent figures of 1/15 off ten.
The captain threw the ball to the spinners who continued the good work done by the opening bowlers, keeping it tight and keeping the over rate quick. Both spinners picked up a wicket in the middle session to go with Barts to have Wellington 3/94 at the 34th over.
After drinks the Wello batsman tried to lift the run rate, this created some chances that the Narromine lads couldn’t take, dropping three catches in the space of two overs. Narromine could have dropped their heads but kept fighting. The ball was thrown to the youngest member of the team and Mitch didn’t disappoint, picking up a wicket in his first over.
Doug was bowling well at the other end picking up two wickets but Mitch was only just getting started. He rattled trough the tail picking up a hat-trick on his way to an excellent 5/7 off 2.3. Wellington were all out for 134.
Narromine needed to bat for 35 minutes in a tricky little period before lunch and didn’t get off to an ideal start, losing two wickets before lunch to head into the break at 2/34.
On the resumption of play Dougy and Moose kept the score ticking over, building a nice 30-run partnership before Doug fell for a well-made 25.
Bocky continued with the theme, combining with the Moose for a 51-run stand before he fell for 33 which brought J Short to the crease. Narromine were well placed at the drinks break at 4/104.
After drinks Shorty decided that the game had gone on long enough taking the first over on the resumption for 18.
The boys kept up the pace until disaster struck.
Shorty blew out his knee in an across the line hack that he hit straight to mid-wicket to give up his wicket for a blistering 33, as well as his ability to stand upright.
Narromine needed four runs to win and whilst waiting for the ambulance to come and get the prone J Short, the Wellington captain conceded the game to the Narromine lads in a very sporting gesture.
So after a bit of an anti-climactic finish the Brewery Shield returns to Narromine hands after 60 years.
After a lot of toil over the last few years being knocked over in semi finals and grand finals for some representative silverware, Narromine could finally bring something home.
Thanks to all the supporters who travelled across to watch, to Ronny Cape the bus driver for putting up with our pointless dribble on the trip home. Special thanks to all the players who make Sundays a great day on the field and also the Narromine USMC for their ongoing support of the Narromine District Cricket.
See you all next year, hopefully Narromine can go back-to-back.