Wilga Hotel Razorbacks put years of pain behind them to win the minor premiership

Wilga Hotel Razorbacks have put the disappointment of three consecutive NDCA first grade wooden spoons and this month’s T20 grand final defeat behind them by claiming the 2024/25 season one day minor premiership and booking their spot in the grand final.

The Razorbacks met RSL at Collins Park in a top-of-the-table day-night clash on Saturday and they were the better team from start to finish on their way to a 93-run victory.

Defending champions RSL entered the round eight game 12 points (two wins) behind the Wilga Hotel men and needed to win to keep their hopes of a fifth straight minor premiership alive. However, the unbeaten Razorbacks were far too good as they extended their 40-over competition winning streak to six matches.

Their skipper Matt Bradshaw won the toss and elected to bat, which he and his side proved was the correct call as they batted out the entire 40 overs to finish on 3-190. They then ripped apart RSL as they took all 10 wickets inside 32 overs at the expense of just 97 runs.

The emphatic victory saw the Wilga Hotel Razorbacks earn their second minor premiership and a first since their inaugural season in 2018/19 when they lined up as the Western Imperial Razorbacks.

It also booked their spot in the March 15 decider, which will be their first grand final appearance since 2021 when they went down by eight wickets against RSL.

Bradshaw has been there through some of the tough times for the club after joining them in 2023, and he told The Courier he was proud to captain them to a minor premiership in his first year as skipper. He said that doing so in the midst of a red-hot RSL run highlighted how far his club had come.

“Winning the minor premiership is really good,” Bradshaw said.

“While there’s only four teams, when you consider how dominant RSL has been, to get over them I think is pretty big.

“We’ve gone from not winning a game in the year-and-a-half I’d been here to going through the one day competition undefeated so far in eight rounds. That’s really something in itself.

“It shows that what you put in as a club can carry over onto the field.

“The minor premiership is definitely big, but for us it’s not all the way.”

“The captaincy has been really easy because I have a lot of good blokes at the club around me,” Bradshaw said.

“I’d had experience captaining in junior cricket but this is my first time captaining in a senior team, and it has been a privilege.

“The blokes are good to be around and it’s made it pretty easy.

“Our bowling attack also makes it really easy. If it’s not Tatey (Jack Tate) getting five wickets one week it’s Melto (Greg Melton) or Dyl (Dylan Smith).

“This season has been much more enjoyable. The whole culture of the club has changed and we’ve been able to enjoy the mateship of cricket again.

“Moving here halfway through the (2022/23) season, there wasn’t much structure and consistency.

“To have that all this year, which also comes off the back of a few wins, has been a big part of it for us.”

The Razorbacks opened the batting with Melton and Jack Maunder in the first innings on Saturday and that duo laid the foundation for a successful 40 overs at the crease.

They were 0-38 at the 13-over drinks break and eventually combined for 58 runs before Maunder was caught out by Cooper Brayshaw during a Jake Brayshaw wicket-maiden in the 19th over.

Angus Galagher (5) then fell cheaply when he was bowled by Bailey Keeler in over 24, but Melton continued to frustrate the RSL bowlers and brought up his second half-century in as many 40-over matches during the 26th over.

The Razorbacks’ club president eventually reached a match-high score of 58 runs before being bowled by RSL skipper Jarrett Tough in the 30th over as the score became 3-109.

The opener departed having struck two fours and as many sixes, and the foundation that he had laid gave teammates Tate and Bradshaw a platform to lift the run rate during the final 10 overs.

They managed to do so as they put on an unbeaten 81-run partnership, with Tate hitting a single off the second-last delivery of the innings to move to 50 runs from 44 balls and Brayshaw scoring a single off the last delivery to end up on 34* off 37 balls.

Just as they did in round five back in December, the Razorbacks then ripped through RSL with the ball to restrict the defending champions to a double-digit total.

They held them to 86 runs in their previous 40-over encounter and then held them to 97 on Saturday night.

Only Cooper Brayshaw (14) and Will Ford (14) reached double figures for the chasing side as they fell 94 runs short of victory, while five of the six Razorbacks bowlers took at least one wicket.

Smith was the standout with the white ball for the Wilga Hotel men as he took a game-best 3-14 from eight overs. Five of those runs were wides as he only conceded nine off the stick and produced a combination of 40 dot balls or wickets.

Clay Hoffman (3-9 from 3.4 overs) also starred in his first game of the season, Zack Doring (2-19 from six overs) bagged two scalps, and the other two were taken by the openers Melton (1-10 from four overs) and Tate (1-29 from seven overs).

This Saturday’s round nine clash against Tourist Hotel at Collins Park will be Wilga Hotel’s last match ahead of the March 15 grand final. The final-round game will get underway from 1pm, not 3.30pm as indicated on the draw, as the Wilga men are eager to play under the same conditions that the grand final will be held.

RSL will be playing to secure second place at Leitch Oval when they meet Tatts from 1pm.