Central North crowned over-55s state champions in Wagga Wagga

The dominance of the Central North Cricket zone was on display again this week when a group of men from the north west were crowned the over-55 champions of NSW.

The Veterans Cricket NSW 2023/24 season Over-55 State Championships tournament was contested in Wagga Wagga, with 12 matches played from Sunday through to Tuesday.

There were four Narrabri Grey Slugs players in action at the prestigious event, which included Neil Brayshaw, Chris Sargent and Shayne Riordan, who all lined up for Central North, as well as Adrian Schwager, who was a member of the defending champions Port Jackson Red. Brayshaw is from Narrabri, Sargent is from Lightning Ridge, Riordan is from Gunnedah and Schwager is from Merah North.

There were eight teams playing in division one at the event, and they were all competing for the Warwick Hayes Cup. All teams were guaranteed to play in three games across the three days, but only the winners of each round would progress for a shot at the cup.

Central North met one of the two Port Jackson teams in action at the event, Port Jackson Blue, on Sunday. The Central North men batted first after they won the toss and the side batted out the 45 overs to finish on a dominant score of 5-230. They then knocked over Port Jackson for 128 in 43 overs as Brayshaw (1-16 off three overs) and Sargent (0-16 off six overs) both impressed with the ball.

The 102-run win saw Central North progress through to a semi-final clash against the Central Coast Cyclones, who had demolished the Mid North Coast men by 10 wickets on the first day.

That semi-final game was played on Monday and it was the Cyclones who batted first after winning the toss. They batted out the 45 overs and finished on 8-179, but Central North were far too good as they chased 180 just five wickets down in 34.4 overs.

Brayshaw (2-40 from nine overs) took two more wickets to take his tally to three, and Sargent (0-28 from eight overs) was economical once again.

Having scored a 139-run win on day one, Schwager’s Port Jackson Red side played their way into a grand final showdown against Central North on Tuesday with another crushing win on day two as they outscored Greater Illawarra Silverbats by 104 runs.

Central North won the toss on grand final day and elected to bat. They got off to a less-than-ideal start and were struggling at 3-6 early on. However, they were guided back on track by their captain, Steve Wilson (24), and Sargent and Brayshaw, who scored 40 runs each and were both forced to retire. They could have returned to the middle and resumed on 40 runs had their other teammates all been dismissed before the 45 overs were up, but Central North managed to reach 8-186, and the duo were not required to come back out.

They both stood up and performed brilliantly with the ball in the game’s second innings as Sargent took 2-19 off nine overs and Brayshaw took 2-16 off four overs as the Central North men dismissed Port Jackson for 130 runs in 38 overs to claim the state championship with a 56-run victory.

Schwager finished the tournament with 50 runs for Port Jackson Red after retiring on 40 in the first game, making nine in round two and scoring one in the decider.

Brayshaw and Sargent both told The Courier that they enjoyed their time at Wagga Wagga.

“It was one of the best carnivals I’ve been involved with,” Brayshaw said.

“Everyone really gets a long and has a beer, and there’s a bit of banter out there on the field.

“It was great competition too. There were a lot of good players there.”

“It was a brilliant three days,” Sargent added.

“We had a great bunch of blokes, and everybody contributed.

“It was really good to win the final, considering it was the first time that Central North had put a team in at any level in the veterans.

“It was a pretty well-balanced team, and we bowled well and fielded well all three days. The game against the Central Coast, especially, we bowled and fielded just outstanding on a big ground with a lightning-quick outfield. To keep them under 200 was a mighty effort.”