Central North Colts to take on Gwydir in the MA Connolly Cup decider

Two Narrabri boys will take the field when the Central North Colts team lines up in a highly-anticipated MA Connolly Cup grand final later this month.

Tatts Cricket Club’s Sid Harvey and Narrabri RSL Cricket Club’s Bernard O’Connor are both part of the Colts side that will challenge Gwydir in the final of Northern Inland Cricket Council’s 2022/23 campaign premier competition on Sunday, February 19.

Both of those sides finished on top of their respective pools this season and then won their semi-final fixtures on Sunday.

The under-18s Colts side was in Pool B, which was made up of four teams, and it played two games after round one was called off due to wet weather. The Colts won both of their games quite comfortably.

Gwydir was in the five-team Pool A and played two of its four scheduled games. It won both of those, and also had a forfeit win and a forfeit loss as well as a bye.

The two grand finalists have been batting powerhouses throughout the 2022/23 season.

The Colts took on Moree in their semi-final clash at Tamworth’s Bicentennial Park (Number One Oval) on Sunday and demolished them by 251 runs. The Central North boys piled on 334 runs for the loss of just seven wickets during the game’s first innings and then rolled Moree for just 83.

That was the third time in as many matches that the Colts scored 250 or more runs in an innings this season.

They have batted first in all three of their games so far and have registered scores of 250 in 48.1 overs, 8-268 in 50 overs, and 7-334 in 50 overs.

They have been so dominant in all three of their games that they boast an average winning margin of 193 runs.

The Gwydir side has also been quite impressive with the bat throughout the 2022/23 campaign. It has batted first in all three games it has played and scored more than 200 on all three occasions.

In its most recent match, it took on Quirindi in the semi-final at Bingara and scored 248 runs. Gwydir won that game by 36 runs after dismissing Quirindi for 212.

In their first game of the season back in round two, the Gwydir men made 6-216 during a 12-run victory against Narrabri in Bingara. Then, after missing round three and four due to forfeits, Gwydir scored 203 runs away from home against Moree in round five. It won that match by 114 runs after restricting Moree to just 89 to secure top spot on the pool B ladder.

The Narrabri boys and their Central North teammates are now hoping to do exactly what the Narrabri District Cricket Association’s representative first XI, did last season – win the MA Connolly Cup decider.

The Pink Slugs earned a home grand final last year and they demolished Quirindi by eight wickets. However, they struggled this season as they lost the two games they played of the four they were scheduled to.

They went down by 12 runs away from home against Gwydir in round two after their round one game away in Armidale was washed out.

They won by forfeit in round three against Inverell before losing at home by 84 against Moree in round four.

The side then had a bye in round five and was forced to settle for fourth on the Pool A ladder.