CRICKET Albury-Wodonga made a stunning return to the O’Farrell Cup by overpowering Holbrook by 109 runs at Holbrook on Sunday.
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In the association’s first cup match in 13 years, Lavington all-rounder Nathan Brown took it upon himself to set the tone by smashing 99 in a score of 7-330.
He plundered 10 sixes and four boundaries in a knock described by Holbrook skipper Darren Howard as “incredible”.
“You don’t see much better clean hitting than that,” Howard said.
“They were fantastic cricket shots.
“Our bowlers weren’t bowling poorly or anything, he just batted exceptionally well.
“We put up a really good effort but they are a quality side and deserved the win.”
Although Holbrook never threatened the score, it made 7-221 on the back of a fine 75 from opener Will Heriot and an unbeaten 53 from wicketkeeper Luke Richardson.
CAW will now take on Cootamundra.
While Brown admitted he hit the ball “pretty cleanly”, he credited CAW’s wealth of batting for posting the massive score off 55 overs.
Matt Crawshaw (32) and BJ Garvey (45) put on 66 for the opening stand before Jack Craig (24), Brendan Simmons (20), Brown (99), Robbie Jackson (59), Greg Daniel (27) and Kane Arendarcikas (14 not out) joined in the run feast.
Holbrook’s cause wasn’t helped by two catches going down early in the innings.
“I’m seeing the ball pretty well at the moment and got on a bit of a roll but everyone batted pretty well,” Brown said.
"We respected the wicket and the opposition and made a good score.
“It was a good win by the boys.”
CAW defended the total superbly with experienced spinners Arendarcikas (2-15) and Daniel (1-27) proving difficult to get away on the Holbrook wicket.
It was an impressive performance by CAW who were desperate to regain some representative pride after losing to Wagga earlier in the season.
“We’re really proud of our efforts over the past three weeks, but if Albury keep this side together they are going to be hard to beat,” Howard said.
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