For the second year running Wagga has come undone in the Stribley Shield final.
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After going through the three round matches undefeated, Wagga fell short of a third title in five years after a four-wicket loss to Cootamundra on Sunday.
Batting first at McPherson Oval, Cootamundra bowled the home side out for 91.
Dean Bradley and Dave Garness both picked up three wickets
Bradley, who captains the side was thrilled with the performance.
“I’ve always told my guys Wagga is the benchmark and they’ve really brought in a hell of a lot of experience over the last few years and really set the standard,” Bradley said.
“To get one over them in their backyard is very pleasing.”
Bradley, who was named man of the match, was pleased to down Wagga in the decider.
Despite having a paltry target to chase down it didn’t stop Cootamundra from having a nervous slip up.
Opening the bowling Lachie Skelly claimed four wickets before Darren Connell () guided Cootamundra to victory.
“We stumbled quite a bit with the bat,” Bradley said.
“But Darren Connell really showed his experience and guided us home with the bat.”
It was Cootamundra’s first Stribley Shield title since 2013-14.
Wagga scored a seven-wicket win was the teams met in the round stage, but Bradley said the side learnt a lot from the experience and adapted better to the foreign conditions.
“It has been a good season,” he said. “There’s been a bit of travelling for us as we’ve only had one home game all year so it’s a credit to the blokes who have been turning up to play.”
It was far from the fairy tale ending Wagga captain Jon Nicoll wanted for his decorated representative career.
Nicoll thought the side were simply outplayed.
“We were as bad as we could possibly be and they were just too good,” Nicoll said.
“We were completely outplayed and full credit to Cootamundra they were far too good for us.”
Nicoll top scored for Wagga with 20 before being caught behind off Garness.
He was only one of three Wagga batsmen to reach double digits with Lachie Skelly (15) and Tim Post (10 not out) providing some late resistance.
It was a disappointing effort.
“Unfortunately we just weren’t good enough with the bat,” Nicoll said. “It had nothing to do with the wicket, the wicket was fine, but they bowled good areas and we weren’t able to cope with really good bowling.”
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