Newcastle’s multicultural cricket team has again proven their pedigree as they stormed to a definitive grand final victory in the WWPL-4 tournament.
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Hosted by the Wyong Warriors in association with Cricket NSW, the WWPL-4 competition is the largest hard ball tournament for multicultural teams in the state, and featured 12 teams playing in the 8 over, 8 player shortened format.
In the eyes of the Newcastle Hunters’ captain Aijo Issac, the team couldn’t have played any better at the invitational, so much so that he described the finals as “a cake walk for the [team]”.
“The boys showed the true spirit of cricket, and dominated authoritatively in all departments,” Issac said after the title match against the tournament hosts. “It was a collective effort by the boys which led to the well deserved victory in the end.”
The “cake walk” tournament saw one close match in the semi-final, as the Hornsby Chettans set 100 runs across their rapid-fire 8 overs.
It took just 7.2 overs for the Novocastrian champions to book their spot in the grand final, and from there the result seemed almost assured in the eyes of the Hunters.
“I’m overwhelmed by some of the outstanding individual performances,” Issac said, and pointed towards opener Noel Matthew as a key player in the last match.
Matthew shone with a 40 run haul, not out, including a sensational 22 run over early in proceedings, so it was no surprise when the Hunters first was named best batsman for the tourney, and the man of the match in the final.
It was Sreejth’s final contribution that put to the full-stop on the Hunters’ campaign however, as in the 7th over saw him crack four sixes in a row to complete the chase-down, earning the travelling Newcastle team the honours.
The February victory will prove a strong staging ground for the Newcastle Hunters’ 2018 campaign, Issac believes.
“It’s a great start to the year [winning in Wyong],” he said. “I assure everyone this is just the beginning.”
The Hunters defeated KPR Sydney and Gong Tuskers Wollogong on their path to the semi-finals.
Kiran Venu of the Newcastle Hunters was named bowler of the tournament, having recorded the highest wickets and the best bowling economy.