SEVENTEEN overs is all it took Tathra to win Saturday’s A grade one-day cricket final.
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Taking on the Merimbula Knights, the Sea Eagles won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Captain Pete Bennett made the decision to bowl first so Tathra would know the runs it had to chase.
Tathra president Rob Stevenson was delighted with the result.
“It was a dominant display,” Stevenson said.
“Tight bowling and great initiative enabled us to keep pressure on all their batters and to hold them to 140.”
The Merimbula wickets weren’t dropping early, but the batsmen weren’t scoring runs either.
The drought finally broke for the Eagles 10 overs in, when Adam Blacka caught Brendan Daley with Merimbula on 28.
Lincoln Rixon-Petty fell shortly after and the Tathra team lifted the tempo.
However, Merimbula danger batsman Dylan Jordan was playing fast and loose, sending a number of shots to the boundary.
Jordan didn’t quite find the groove and paid the price for his shots, caught out on 23 runs.
Merimbula looked solid at 3/90, but were swiftly running out of overs.
Tathra returned from the drinks break with vigor and took steady wickets as the overs wound down.
Scott Wright stood out in the middle order with 19 runs, then Ray Fisher steadied the tail end with his 18.
However, the squad ran out of overs and Merimbula finished on 8/140.
Bennett proved the strongest with the ball in hand to secure three wickets on Saturday.
Meanwhile, honours were shared among the other bowlers with Blacka taking two and Cody Hazelgrove-Danvers, Chris Dwyer and Jack Hukins all taking one each.
In reply, Tathra dropped just two wickets in its relentless pursuit of the runs.
“Our batsmen just went to work, to mow down the total with a lot of ease in the end,” Stevenson said.
Opener Craig Nicholson wasted no time with a determined stand at the crease, which included seven fours and two sixes.
Dwyer was dismissed early for five runs off a catch from the bowling of Jordan.
Early in the proceedings it put Tathra at 1/15 and left the game wide open.
However, the home squad wouldn’t drop its next wicket until 72 runs when Gibbs was returned to the sheds.
Gibbs had compiled 16 runs and was caught by Rixon-Petty.
Blacka joined Nicholson at the crease and the duo rapidly brought the innings to a close in the 17th over.
“Once in-form Blacka got to the wicket, within six overs the final 70 runs was just a procession,” Stevenson said.
“They had demoralised the Merimbula bowling attack within those six overs and the game was over.
“We were more than pleased with the result and had a pretty decent celebration.”
The win cements the club’s long-standing dominance in the one-day series with five successive finals wins.
The club will now move to the Twenty20 series, including a pair of double head matches with the first to be played in Bega on Saturday.
“We’ll be looking to provide some of our promising C graders an opportunity in the T20s in the A grade,” Stevenson said.