FINAL BALL THRILLER: NKT Excavations earn grand final glory in inaugural season

It was a game worthy of a grand final when NKT Excavations defeated WTC Group in the decider of the Narrabri District Cricket Association’s 2023/24 season Coates Hire Namoi Super Slog T20 comp at Hogan Oval on Saturday night.

The newest franchise marked their inaugural campaign with their first premiership victory after winning a thrilling match by one run. It went down to the final ball as a large crowd was kept well and truly entertained.

NKT Excavations batted first after their skipper Cooper Brayshaw won the toss and they made 85 runs in 19.3 overs after they were struggling at 5-31 at one stage during the innings.

WTC Group would later go into the Jarrett Tough-bowled final over on 5-78, and they scored five runs from five balls to move to 5-83 with one delivery remaining as they required three runs to win. Matt Bradshaw was on strike and he flicked the ball out to Brayshaw, who was fielding on the boundary at deep mid-wicket, and the chasing side completed one run but could not get home for a second as the NKT Excavations captain threw the ball to Tough, who completed the runout as WTC Group’s skipper Nathan Trindall fell just short of the crease for the run that would have taken the game to a super over.

It was a momentous occasion for the entire NKT Excavations squad as well as the franchise owners Neville and Karen Thurston, while Brayshaw became the first captain to have won two finals and he also became the only player in the four-year history of the competition to have been a part of three grand final-winning teams.

The 24-year-old was thrilled to have won such a hard-fought contest and told The Courier that he was proud of his teammates.

“This feels amazing,” Brayshaw said moments after his side had clinched the victory.

“We’ve worked so hard throughout this season. It means a lot and I’m proud of these boys.

“It was thrilling. You pray for games like this, and you hope you can win them. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, and that’s cricket.

“I was nervous and stressed towards the end there, but fortunately for us, it came off, and that’s the main thing.

“It was a big effort in our bowling innings. Once we finished batting, we went straight into a huddle before we started bowling and we talked about what we needed to do. A lot of the boys were keeping the talk up and making sure we knew what we had to do, and I think that says a lot about this team.”

Brayshaw said that it was a special feeling to have won three grand finals in a row and to have captained two of those victories, and added that he hoped he would return as the NKT Excavations skipper next season for a crack at defending the franchise’s
inaugural title.

Saturday night’s match was action-packed from the get-go and it was WTC Group who started on the front foot as they claimed wickets in five straight overs from the third to the seventh to put the eventual champs on the ropes.

Opening bowler Dylan Smith made the early breakthrough when he bowled Tough (5) to make the score 1-9, which became 2-9 the following over when Trindall dismissed Tough’s opening partner Jake Brayshaw for a duck after he was caught at backward point by Gabe O’Connor.

Tim Hayne replaced Smith in the fifth over and took the big wicket of Cooper Brayshaw (4), who skied a full toss and was caught by Trindall as the score became 3-21.

It was then 4-24 in the sixth after Matt Conroy (9) was bowled by Will Ford, and then 5-31 in the seventh when Aaronn Baker (6) was bowled by Hayne.

NKT Excavations middle order duo Cody Kember (18) and Chris Smith (19) then steered the ship as they registered their side’s only two double-digit scores of the contest to guide the team to a defendable total.

Dylan Smith was thrown the ball late in the innings and took two more wickets to finish with 3-10 from four overs, and Trindall brought the innings to a close in the 20th over when he bowled Max Hunter (4) to finish with 2-7 from 3.3 overs. Hayne (2-34 from four overs) also claimed two scalps, Darcy Anderson (1-3 from two overs) and Will Ford (1-20 from four overs) took one each, and O’Connor (0-8 from two overs) was tidy with the ball and chipped in with a runout as NKT Excavations finished all out on 85 runs with three balls to spare in the innings.

NKT Excavations knew they would need a positive start if they were any hope of winning the game and their skipper delivered as Brayshaw produced a double-wicket-maiden in the third over as he bowled Tim Hayne and Angus Galagher both for ducks to make the score 2-3.

That left Greg Melton and Will Ford together at the crease, and they got the innings on track as they put on a 41-run partnership. They were determined to bring the game home for their team and the duo certainly have the class to have been able to do so, however, NKT Excavations’ Les Bonney turned the game on its head with one of the great grand final bowling spells that included the wickets of both of those batsmen.

Bonney was thrown the ball by Brayshaw in the 10th over and he bowled Melton (20) during a wicket-maiden and then trapped Ford (17) in front during the 12th over to make the score 4-54.

Bonney then bowled the 14th and 16th overs, and although he was unable to take another wicket, he produced nine dot balls and was only hit for three more singles as he finished with phenomenal figures of 2-6 from four overs as WTC Group found themselves on 4-64, requiring 22 runs to win from 24 deliveries.

Jake Brayshaw bowled his third over in the 17th and WTC Group scored four runs off the bat and also picked up two more runs from byes to enter the 18th needing 16 from 18 to get the job done.

Kember then bowled the 18th and he produced three dot balls, one of which saw Conroy pull off a brilliant stumping to dismiss Smith (5). That brought Trindall to the crease to join Bradshaw and the duo scored four runs from the final three balls of the over and then four more in the Jake Brayshaw-bowled 19th over as the scoreboard read 5-78, and the chasing side required eight runs to win from the final over of the game.

It was Tough who was thrown the ball by Brayshaw for that over, and he delivered as he restricted WTC Group to six runs. Trindall and Bradshaw scored five singles between them from the first five balls of the over, which meant they required two to tie and three to win from the final delivery. But Tough was on point and Bradshaw could not find a boundary, instead picking out Cooper Brayshaw at deep mid-wicket who threw the ball to the bowlers’ end as the batsmen returned for a second run to run out Trindall (5), who was inches away from forcing a super over.

Bradshaw finished unbeaten on 24 runs as he registered the top score of the grand final across both teams, however, it was not enough as the WTC Group men fell agonisingly short of winning the franchise’s first Super Slog crown.

To go with his runout, Brayshaw finished the contest with 2-11 from four overs, while Bonney (2-6 from four overs) and Kember (1-10 from four overs) were also brilliant with the ball.

A short presentation was held after the grand final, during which the captains said a few words, Conroy was awarded the $500 cash prize for being the competition’s leading run-scorer, Trindall was awarded the $500 cash prize for being the competition’s leading wicket-taker, and the champions were presented with their winners’ medals and the cup.