By MATT NICHOLLS
A BLAZING century and six-wicket haul from Ash Clee led the bottom-placed Barbarians to victory against ladder leaders TAS White in the Armidale District Cricket Association on Saturday.
Making his season debut for the Baa Baas in third grade, Clee proved a match-winner as he destroyed The Armidale School with bat and ball at Jack Vallance Oval.
Saved for the middle part of the innings by captain Brett Taylor, who was seemingly unaware of Clee’s ability with the ball, the right-arm quick hooped the ball around and tore through the TAS batting line-up.
TAS went from three wickets down to six in the space of an over as Clee snared three scalps in four balls.
From his seven overs, Clee finished with 6/26. He had support from openers Steve Bishop (2/29) and Joe Piddington (1/33) who kept scoring down on a fast outfield.
Chasing 186 for victory, the Barbarians were in trouble early at 2/10, but Bishop and Clea quickly turned the game around for the bottom-placed side.
Bishop was first to depart after a quickfire 50, which included three sixes and five fours.
However, his efforts were once again overshadowed by Clea, who finished unbeaten on 112 after a brilliant performance with the bat.
Despite hitting the ball to all corners of the ground, Clea never gave TAS a chance.
His innings included 17 fours, while he cleared the boundary six times.
The Barbarians chased down the tally with 20 overs to spare, scoring at 9.4 runs per over.
It was the Baa Baas’ second win of the season and gave them a slim hope of making the finals.
In the other third grade matches, Hillgrove Brumbies destroyed Ex-Services at Rologas.
The Brumbies scored 9/173 before skittling Servies for 48.
At Guyra, the home side lost a thriller to Hillgrove Colts.
A half century to Mathew Simpson (65) helped Guyra to a tally of 229, but the Colts proved too good in the chase, passing the Spuds in the penultimate over.
Tony Jones (60 not out), Gary Seach (57) and Richard Heagney (52) got the job done for Hillgrove.
