Sawty Rouns Up -Round 17- Finals

SAWTY CRICKET ROUND UP

ROUND 17- Finals

Now that was a cracking finals round. 1sts, 2nds and 16s  straight to the  Grand Finals. 1sts, 2nds and 4ths play on 21st March. 16s play this Friday night 13th March at Toormina Oval. Please get in your Sawty gear and support our teams.

We are also guaranteed a 4th grade side in the grand final after 4ths Blue won a ripper in Urunga , winning on the last ball …….but only after an epic Blue v Gold at Toormina Oval this Saturday from 1.00pm. Clubs dream of games like this.

12’s and 14’s made the finals and were in with a chance but their seasons are done. A mighty club effort all round.

There were three 5fas this round, all spinners.  In 1sts - Richie 5 for 51 off 26overs, Trent 5 for 25 off 22 overs. In 2nds Alex 5 for 9 off 5 overs. We have a bucket of spin talent in the club. Any young players wanting to be tweakers should seek out a few tips from these guys. Will in 1sts is also handy.

Senior Presentation Night is booked for Saturday evening 28th March at Sawtell Hotel. 5.30 for 6pm start. Players will have a free meal and guests a meal at a cost of $30.

Junior Presentation Arvo is  Sunday 22nd March, 3.30-5.30pm at Richardson Park. Please put the dates in your calendars. Pizzas and soft drink will be provided for the junior players.

Any players with perpetual trophies please return them to a member of the committee. I will be at the raffles each Friday evening from 5.30 til 7pm if you want to drop them off then.

I’m collating the Players Player voting for senior grades (except for my team- send to Rod). If you haven’t done so, please text your votes to my  personal number 0419161903, not the team chat.

Congratulations to all teams this season and to all those who support them. We had 9 teams competing this year and 2 non competitive. 4 teams have made grand finals.  With so many payers on the paddock we have already had a great victory as a club.

SPONSOR OF THE WEEK- Bonville Landscape Supplies

‘LANDSCAPE SUPPLIES - Soils, Mulches, Composts, Sands, Aggregates, Stones, Pop-up Nursery, Firewood, Beautiful Pots, Water features, Plants, Edging Fire Pits and everything you could need for your garden project’.

Ben and team are continually building the products available. A wide variety of stone products all easy to walk around and checkout. Bring your trailer or they deliver. There’s also lots of fancy stuff to make your garden pop. Its definitely worth a browse and you get to spend some time in Beautiful Bonviille,

U10s Suns

Under 10’s Match Report – Suns vs Nana Glen

Len Towells Oval

The Suns travelled to beautiful Len Towells Oval to take on Nana Glen, playing on a magnificent ground with a truly majestic backdrop that made it a great setting for junior cricket.

Jem was captain for the day and, after losing the toss, the Suns were sent in to bat. Archie and Sunny opened the innings and got the team off to a terrific start. The pair worked hard at the crease, building a solid opening partnership through smart shot selection and aggressive running between the wickets. They kept the pressure on the fielders and laid a strong foundation for the innings.

Jem and Luca followed and continued the momentum, playing some confident shots and finding the boundary with a few well-struck fours to keep the scoreboard ticking along nicely. It was great to see the boys backing themselves and keeping the runs flowing.

Wilder came in towards the end of the innings and provided the perfect finish, striking some great shots and adding valuable runs to close out the Suns’ batting effort.

As always, the Suns were outstanding in the field. Their bowling and fielding continues to improve every week, and it’s fantastic to see how quickly they learn. Whether it was backing up, walking in with the bowler, or keeping the positive talk going in the field, the team only needs to be told once and they put it straight into action.

Another great team performance and a fantastic effort from all the Suns.

Great work, Suns!

U10s Stars

This week we played the Diggers at Toormina, morning rain made conditions tricky for the boys but they played well and fielded great working as a team. Big thanks to Henry & Ollie from the Suns who helped us out this week. Shoutout to Ollie with the caught & bowled, well done mate.

Looking forward to finishing off the season strong with another home game next week.

U12 Sixers

Sawtell Sixers U12s vs Diggers U12s

Reg Ryan Oval

Result: Diggers won by 50 runs

Sawtell won the toss and elected to bowl first at Reg Ryan Oval, but from the outset Diggers came hard.

Diggers Innings

The Sixers were under pressure immediately, with Diggers’ opening batter taking control in the first five overs and never really letting go.

In a remarkable display of hitting, he blasted 78 from just 20 balls, taking the game away from Sawtell in quick fashion. In doing so he also surpassed 500 runs for the season, a mark that highlights just how dominant he has been throughout the competition.

Anything loose was punished and even decent balls were sent over the rope as he hit ten maximums.

To Sawtell’s credit, the group stuck at it and managed to stem the flow after the early damage. The bowlers regrouped well and the field lifted, with Diggers eventually finishing on 3–137.

Sawtell Chase

Sawtell began the chase brightly with Percy and Jai setting a solid platform and showing positive intent.

Percy looked well placed to anchor the innings before being run out on his 19th ball after a mix-up, a moment that shifted the momentum.

From there things became a little frantic. With the scoreboard pressure mounting, the Sixers were undone by five run-outs through the innings, and the chase never fully recovered as Diggers closed out the game to win by 50 runs.

Season Wrap

While the final result didn’t fall Sawtell’s way, it caps off a brilliant season for the Sixers.

The connection within the group, the willingness to work hard, and the way the boys supported each other week in and week out has been a real highlight.

A special thank you to Marto and all the parents who helped with training, scoring, and support throughout the season. It takes a village to run a team and the backing from families has been outstanding.

Most importantly, it’s been a real pleasure watching the boys grow, learn the game, and enjoy their cricket together.

A huge thank you for an excellent summer boys. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching you play.

Wishing the older boys all of the success as they move on next year and hoping we can go one step further next summer.

U14s

Big shout out to the team tonight for pushing Woolgoolga to the edge, a massive effort and we almost got there. As a coach I just wanted to give a shout out to our players. To watch the continued growth of our players throughout the season has been an honour to watch. Hunter has been Mr Reliable with bat, ball and gloves throughout the season, Bodhi has continued to grow in confidence with bat and ball and is backing himself, Eva and Jasmine have continued to grow in self-belief each week and to show a real love for the game. Chisel has regained his pre-injury form and proven himself to be a natural leader, Nate loves all aspects of cricket and is a great team player, Lucas has shown how to use the shoulder to generate bowling pace and to make hard catches look easy. Leo is the ultimate team man, whose easy going nature and team first approach make him an asset to any team. Mac plays like he’s been playing  for years and Liam has grown in self-belief and is backing himself with both bat and ball. And Jude is one of the most naturally gifted sportsman I’ve seen. Also shout out to Lincoln, who didn’t get to finish the season with us but was our number one supporter and organiser, and also showed at the start of the season that his future in cricket is far brighter than his future in boxing!

And as a parent of a daughter playing in this group I’ve been even more impressed.  Jasmine was pretty down on the drive home tonight. She was disappointed by the loss but was even more disappointed that she couldn’t hang out with her teammates any more - she said she looks forward to cricket on a Wednesday more that she looks forward to the weekend. This speaks volumes about the people she plays with and how inclusive, accepting and respectful everyone is. I don’t think you could meet a nicer bunch of kids. Shoutout to SuperCoach Rod - one of the most knowledgeable and dedicated coaches I’ve met, to Kelly for always being there to help with the scoring, and to our wonderful parents - who support not only their child but everyone’s child. We may not have won the competition but I think as a team we certainly have come out winners. A great season and we will see you at presentation day.

U16s

Semi final and a rematch from the previous week vs Diggers we win the toss and batted with a great start from Jaybien 29 off 19 and

Denzel 41 off 34

With some extra handy runs coming from Oakley 17 and both Henry and Buzz adding 13 each.

Ending with a total of 6-135

Diggers where in the game with hard hitting Jacka looking dangerous hitting Jaybien for consecutive 6’s but persistence paid off and Josh took a safe catch in the deep to dismiss Jacka for 33 off 16.

Their depth become shallow quickly after that and we rolled them for 71 with Fin topping the bowling with 2-4.

4th Grade Blue vs Urunga. Elimination final. 7th March.

The miracle on ice, Leicester city winning the premier league, breaking the curse of the bambino, the mighty ducks. Great sporting team unlikely victories. 4th grade blue doesn’t belong in this class as the result was always guaranteed. There was never any doubt we would find our way we just had to work it out. And that we did. Fait accompli.

This match report will not be able to truly reflect the drama, stress and pride for this team and its ability to hang tough and not accept defeat.

Only being a few beers deep and in good company will the full story come out.

All you need to know is that Sawty 4ths blue won on the last ball to eliminate Urunga. Tim K smashing a 4 then scrambling a last gasp single in the final ball to see us live another day.  

Don’t underestimate us as this wolf pack is on the hunt.

Sawty Blue vs Sawty Gold in the prelim. Toormina Oval. 14th March. Don’t miss it.

4th Grade GOLD

Macksville ended the season top of the ladder but were vulnerable.  Gold batted first  and Brett was again solid at the crease. The wickets regularly fell around him but another 40 plus retirement helped Gold limp to 98. Not batting out the overs is always dangerous.

Macksville lost early wickets but a 60 run partnership steadied their innings. Ned and Rod snared the big two batters and then Phil went to work.  6 wickets fell for only 23 runs. All of a sudden the dream was alive with the possibility of Sawty  v Sawty in a grand final. Two wickets or 6 runs that’s how close it got. Macksville limped to victory and into the grand final. So close!

Sawty Blue somehow beat Urunga on the last ball to set up the match of the season at Toormi Oval this Saturday where friendly sledging will be some of the best ever seen in Australia.

2nd Grade

With fantastic placement, Sawtell 2s won the toss. With such a young team, many of us weren’t nervous, but we were unsure how this semi-final would play out.

We went in to bat, and Josh De Groot  who has been our shining bowler all season produced the best opening batsman knock of the year. Woolgoolga were expecting wickets every ball. Harman batted alongside Josh, and together they built a lovely partnership of over 70 runs.

Unfortunately the punishment came to an end with both falling before drinks. 3-92. However, the damage had already been done thanks to Josh and Harman.

Alex came in to steady the ship while reliable Zac Levy started scoring quickly. Woolgoolga looked like they had given up. and boy did we pounce. We finished with 8-221, our team’s highest score of the season, with Alex top-scoring with 71.

We started strong with the ball. then TICK. Toby Bliman did it again, getting a key batsman out in the second over with a great catch from Casey behind the stumps.

From there it never looked like Woolgoolga were getting home. We kept the pressure on. Josh picked up another 3-fa, Harman bowled some nice darts. Sawtell captian was smelling that last wicket to send us through to the final. CRUNCH, THUD  Zac Levy takes a diving catch to his left to finished the game off and help his skipper take a 5fa to send us through to the final.

We bowled well, batted well, and took some great catches.

Nothing beats winning a cricket game with your mates.

One more game to win until we’re holding that trophy as a team. Come on boys.

I CAN’T WAIT.

1st Grade Major Semi vs Nana Glen

Another great weekend in Sawtell. Plenty of grass on the wicket, however very hard. But a very thick and long grass display in the outfield.

The boys are undefeated thus far through all CHDCA competitions, and  were feeling very confident about the weekend ahead.

As always, Tedball is a feature of pregame warm up (a very one sided affair this weekend).

A great toss from the skipper, gets an extra 1/2 rotation from an up facing head and call to win the toss. Some say the captains need to be practicing this more before game day.

Win the toss and batting first. Unfortunately lost an early wicket through Wills gate. But an early 2nd wicket partnership saw Sawty taking the upper hand at drinks 2/64 at 20 overs.

Unfortunately the middle order didn’t get going with cheap dismissals/wickets and not many runs scored, besides a late “knuckling down” by Toby “Moose”. But all out 123 with 23 overs to play. The long grass making it difficult to keep it on the ground to score runs, and good bowling from Nana for long periods of time.

Into field for the final session of the day, 1s battled all afternoon with spin being the main method of attack. A few runs for the top of the order saw Nana 3/54 at the end of play Sat.

Sunday

It was a great start to the day, everyone putting in the effort to get the field and sheds ready for the days play. Tedball was an intense battle and effort was high, some would say (Guy) Fieri.

The energy was great and we knew we could turn the tides with an early wicket, accurate bowling and quality fielding.

Sawty did just this with an early wicket. Spin to win and aggressive fields pushed the result to have Nana all out for 89 in the matter of an hour and a half. Both Trent and Richie taking 5 each. Rumour has it the ball needs to be drop sawed in half to share.

Straight into the GF in 2 weeks time, very similar to 2s from the Saturday as well. Both top grades straight into with a week off in between to rest and recoup before the big dance.

‍