The Kurri-Weston Warriors first grade lost their Maitland District Cricket semi-final to Northern Suburbs on the weekend by the narrow margin of seven runs.
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Norths decided to bat first and struggled all day to eventually be all out for 156. All the Kurri-Weston bowlers bowled well but Steve Abel (4-52 off 23) and Kerryn Ball (4-38 off 20) were the standouts.
The Warriors had to face eight overs at the end of the day and had a massive collapse to finish the day at 4-7.
Kurri-Weston started the second day well with Ball and Jack Bennett looking comfortable until Ball copped a controversial decision to be giving out caught in second slip off the pad for 19, which left them in trouble at 5-32.
Skipper Tyler Power joined Bennett at 6-39 and they dug in to put on 64 for the seventh wicket to give the side a sniff.
Bennett (38) departed at 103 and Abel joined his captain at the crease to take the score to 141 before Power (52) nicked one through to the keeper.
It came down to Abel (20) needing eight runs to win with one wicket in hand and yet another controversial umpiring decision against them cost Kurri-Weston victory.
“It was a gallant effort to get so close after the collapse of Saturday afternoon but the result could have been very different with just a little bit of luck,” club president Rob Flanagan said.
“All the players have indicated that they will be back to give it another crack next year so fingers crossed they can go one better.”
On a positive note, the Warriors’ second grade side were victorious in their semi-final against minor premiers Norths.
Kurri-Weston posted 169 on day one and had Norths 1-17 at stumps. It was a good team performance with Sam Dalibozek (35), Brian Taylor (25), Luke Duffield (24), Grant Lowbridge (21) and Nick Nield (21no) all contributing to the competitive score.
Rain delayed the start of play on Sunday, which left Kurri-Weston with 38 overs to bowl Norths out.
But Josh Adams (4-11), Haydon Yates (3-11) and Jono Hickey (2-7) were able to take regular wickets to bowl them out for 58 with just three overs remaining in the day.
Kurri-Weston face Wests this weekend in the grand final and will no doubt go in confident after sharing the spoils through the year.
