Armidale Under 12s have brought the Ross Panton Cup home to Armidale for the first time, after a convincing win over Moree in the Northern Inland cricket final on Sunday.
There was no sign of finals nerves as a magnificent half-century and three catches to opening batsman/wicketkeeper Brendan Knowles paved the way for Armidale’s historic victory.
The last time the two sides met, Moree took the honours in a close-fought, one-run win over Armidale, helping Moree secure top position on the ladder, and the home ground advantage for the final. With a close battle for second on the ladder, Armidale have proved themselves worthy of their finals spot, with their 42-run win away from home in hot and testing conditions.
The final was played in Moree on Sunday and Armidale won the toss and batted first, reaching a respectable score of 1/71 after their first 20 overs. In reply, Moree could only manage 3/46 and a confident Armidale side then put on another 77 runs after lunch, leaving Moree with the task of scoring another 102 runs for victory. Regular wickets and perseverance in the field enabled Armidale to restrict Moree to a final score of 106, 42 runs short of Armidale’s final total.
Brendan Knowles (52) was well supported with the bat by Joe Gordon (31) and Daniel Boyd (21), while Tao Grieves (3/8), Henry Sindel (2/13), Kieran Dennis (2/17), Sam Jeyakumar (1/7) and Callum Ferguson (1/13) took wickets for Armidale.
“This is the team’s best batting display all season and, on top of that, they took regular wickets, which didn’t give Moree the chance to develop any strong partnerships,” said coach Michael Dennis. “They’ve come a long way since the beginning of the season and are playing some really good cricket now. They’re playing really cohesively as a team and they deserve their win.”
Armidale has only been playing in the Northern Inland competition for a couple of years and the team is pleased to be able to claim the Cup so soon after joining a competition, which spans an area from Narrabri, through to Moree, Inverell and down as far as Tamworth and Quirindi/Coonabarabran.
“This is a young side and this team’s performance certainly bodes well for Armidale cricket in years to come.”
