G'day for the final time this season MIG fans because it's FINALS time!
Once again, this year we have been good enough to qualify three teams for the big dance. The MIGs are playing Grand Finals in 3rd Grade, 4th Grade and 5th Grade.
3rd Grade return to the GF for the first time since their triumph over Lane Cove in 2020/21. They play the powerhouse Burwood Briars on homesoil, Weldon Oval. Ruben's men are eager to make the minor premiership into a major one.
4th Grade qualify for their fourth consecutive Grand Final. Kev's men are looking to confirm the dynasty following wins over Burwood, Mounties and North West over the past three seasons. The boys are eyeing off fierce opponents Epping, also at home, Frank Gray Oval.
5th Grade, still a young 'expansion' side for Warringah, in just their second year have qualified for the first Grand Final. Our young guns are looking to bring home the Tim Creer Cup for the first time, playing Pennant Hills at Alan Davidson Oval.
Read on for a summary of all the Grand Final action! But first, it's been a big year and we know we couldn't have had the year we've had without the support of our sponsors.
Visit our sponsor's page to learn more about who they are, what they do or if you would like to inquire about our sponsorship packages for the 2023-24 season or beyond. Additionally, if you would like to learn more about who the amazing people are that make our club tick, you can do so in the Positions of Responsibility section on our About Us page.
Grand Final
Warringah
168
L Richardson 42, C McKay 30*, D Labador 30
Burwood
3d./216
C McKay 2/59, B Martin 1/49
Warringah lost to Burwood.
The big dance. The match the boys were all looking forward to against defending champs Burwood. The scene was set for a fantastic weekend of cricket. A riveting series of Vortex (endorsed by Bill’s makeshift nerf), a series where a dominant side was still yet to be found between Richo and Kuchy’s hunky teams. Kuchy’s team took out the final’s series in a tight contest, but now with bodies warm the boys were on for a big weekend of cricket.
After losing yet another toss (yes tails does fail sometimes), the green men were sent in on a good-looking Weldon deck and were set with the simple task of bat, bat and bat some more. The ever-classy opening partnership of Jimmy Downs and Toby Seward did what they did best and got the mighty 3s off to a solid start. However, losing Jimmy (3) early and then Toby (19) a couple overs later we were faced with an image we hadn’t seen too often this season, the score 2-25. With Lukas Overhoff at 3 and skipper Ruben Donato at 4, the lads looked to steady a shaky ship and set up a platform for this gun line-up to come. Unfortunately, someone missed the memo and after a play and miss, the superstar to be Lukas was walking off leaving the boys in real grief at 3-30.
Out walked the magician himself Luke Richardson. This dreamy combination stuck solid for a few overs until the skipper (16) missed a straight one, leaving the magic maker Richo with the middle order to get the green men to a defendable score. A lot of promise was in the partnership between Richo and Grand final specialist Bill Martin yet when Bill got a good one and edged off for (8) yet Bill got a good one to depart for 8. Now joined by the green machine Dusty Labador, Richo and Dust started to work Burwood to all parts and got all the boys well and truly excited on the sidelines. This partnership (43) carried the boys to 6-113 when Dusty (30) got out caught behind of a good delivery from their leg spinner. However, this pair did a great job to edge the team back in the game and set a platform for Cal McKay and Richo to continue to push on with.
This pair of legends gracefully got to 150 before Richo (42) unfortunately chipped one back to the bowler. A fantastic knock from the great man, where he stood up when the top order struggled. This left Cal to bat with the lower order where his own knock of 30 was supported by Matt Kuchel (2), Kev Godfrey (4) and Harry Burke (2) to get the team to 168. This was a defendable score however we needed to be on song to rip through a classy Burwood line-up.
One of the great opening pairs (Cal and Kev) started our bowling innings and got stuck into the Burwood blokes early. Unfortunately, Weldon took form of the M2 and they were able to chip away at our total. Cal got the first breakthrough with a cracker of a yorker to dismiss the opener, and with the score 1-36 we were in with a sniff. With Harry Burke and Bill Martin now on the scene, we continued to generate a couple of chances without any luck in the evening session until the Burwood skipper finally gifted a chance off Bill which was kindly accepted. With the score at 2-91 it was starting to look like an uphill battle. In stepped Matt Kuchel who continued to bowl at this best as he had done so many times before and got the Burwood bats chewing them at the back end of the day. This amazing pressure finally gave to a final chance of the day where Cal snicked off the 10k runs guy in the final over of the day. Burwood accumulated very effectively throughout the final session had ended day 1 proceedings on 3-128.
With a tough day on the cards, The MIG boys turned up absolutely pumped up to put in the effort of the season to generate chances. Inspired by one of the great rev ups from Kuch and a collective discussion on our approach to get the W, the green men crossed the white line ready to take these 7 wickets for under 40 runs. With a beautifully executed return runout from Cal in the 3rd over of the day not given out, spelled out the type of day it was going to be. Burwood passing the runs 3 down and with lunch forthcoming, the Burwood opener brought up a well crafted hundred. With Burwood at 3-216 at lunch, the game was conceded with the green men outplayed by a forever strong Burwood outfit.
At the end of the day congrats to Burwood for outplaying us on the day. A special mention needs to be made to all the lads that made up the 3s squad throughout the season as I’m sure I can speak for everyone to say it was a great experience to be around you all and to enjoy the time spend on the cricket field in the manner we did. And to the boys who played in the grand final I enjoyed every moment having you boys around the third-grade group this season and the love you blokes shared on and off the field remains the greatest thing gained from the season.
Grand Final
Warringah
9/152
A Boulton 57, A Gatehouse 29, J Donnan 26
Epping
122
A Caruso 6/20, B Rowse 2/20, T Walker 1/25
Warringah won by 3 wickets.
It was a historic Grand Final for the People's Grade, not only because it was to be a Home Grand Final but also the first time that a 2nd tier ground would host a Grand Final in Sydney Shires Cricket History (a credit to the staff at Green Options). A beautiful Autumn's Day greeted the MIG for another run at Frank Gray Oval, a ground that had been a fortress for the last 4 years. Further history awaited the team as they aimed to make it a 4-peat of the competition. This time, they would be coming up against Epping, a team known for having a very tight bowling unit, but a batting that looked, at best, flakey.
There were two changes from last the Semi-Final win over Strathfield, with Sam Roche ruled out through injury, replaced by the Squash Ball in Matt Melville, while Darcy Horstead stepped in as the 12th man. A strong line-up, still, and a match that the MIG's were energised for. After a successful Choo-Choo Train (yep, made it all the way to the start without an error), the toss was taken. As always, Kev didn't tell us what had happened (he had lost the toss), but the MIG's were going to be bowling first on a pitch that looked like a typical Frank Gray Deck: Plenty early on but expected to become as flat as the Sydney Harbour Bridge Deck.
The big message from Kev as we went out was two things:
1. Enjoy the moment and enjoy the experience
2. You can't win a Grand Final in the first session, but you can definitely lose it.
There were plenty of fire-works expected for the start, as Vic Caruso (playing in his last full-time game) lined up with Tom Walker (Texas Ranger) against Gurnish Sarai and Josh Pledger, the latter whom Vic has had plenty of run-ins over the last few years, especially during the season when Pledger decided to shoulder charge Vic in the back. Well, it didn't take long because Pledger was up to his antics again, this time elbowing Vic as he ran through for a single, in what was a very slow start.
BIG MISTAKE!!
An over later, Vic then produced arguably one of the best balls of the entire season, and it couldn't have been more poetic than being against Pledger (who was also coming off a 50 in the Semi-Final), with a ball that swung late, turned the opener inside-out and bent off-stump backwards 45-degrees. The subsequent celebration brought out Qantas QF1 as Pledger (6 off 21) was left stunned and the MIG's left delerious at the delivery. 1-10
This opened the floodgates, as Vic was then firing on all cylinders and Epping started realising that Pledger's elbowing of Vic was the 2nd big mistake that they had made on Day 1. Vic followed up an over later with a typical Vic wicket, finding the outside edge of Ammar Tanveer (9th ball duck) and ending up in the hands of his favourite slipper in Chappo. Two balls later, Meet Patel (Silver Duck) joined Tanveer, this time edging to Tex at 2nd Slip. 1-10 became 3-10.
Gurnish Sarai and Nikolai Paxton then turtled Epping towards the first drinks break, with Vic and Tex bowling amazingly in tandem (the Overs, at this stage, were ahead of the runs). But it wouldn't last for long, as Nikolai Paxton (2 off 26) scooped a ball back up for the easiest Caught and Bowled that Vic would take in his career. 4-21
Warringah then brought on Charlie Wilson who kept the pressure on early, but all the action was coming from the Northern End, as 4 overs later, Vic sent an in-swinger back in on Div Sharma (8th ball duck) to have him trapped on the crease for a first session 5-fa. It then happened again. 2 balls later, Gurnish Sarai (10 off 60), snicked off to Kev, leaving Epping at 6-22 and (to quote the Epping Grand Final Report):
"...the most annoying player in Shires Cricket taking all 6 wickets..."
Epping then survived 2 further LBW shouts to scramble to Lunch at 6-34 and left wondering what black cat they had run-over to deserve that session.
After coming back from lunch, their veteran wicket-keeper, David Reynolds, and their captain, Josh Armytage, scrambled their score to 7-82, before Mitch Norton got in on the act, going straight through the captain (24 off 73). From that point on, steady wickets flowed, with Kev taking two catches, first off Ben Rowse (Kulwant Dhillon for 7 off 16) and then off Tex (David Reynolds for 52 off 111), before Mr Rowse claimed the last wicket, bowling Hunter Abeni around his legs for 8 off 30.
Epping were left all out at the half-way point of Day 1 for just 122, with Mr Rowse claiming 2 wickets and Tex and Norto claiming one each. But the story of the morning was Big Vic's incredible 6/23 off just 17 overs, his best ever figures.
Warringah then came out to bat in the best of the conditions on Day 1, with Jack Donnan and Alfie Gatehouse showing good patience, ticking over early runs. They managed to bring up their 50-run stand for the first wicket before a horrible mix-up saw both batters at one end and Alfie run-out for 29 off 62. Chappo was out soon after, snicking off to Armytage for 3 but Donno and Aiden Boulton saw Warringah to stumps at 2-62, needing only 61 runs with 8 wickets in hand. As you know, the People's Grade never liked doing things the easy way in Grand Finals and history repeated itself, with Warringah having a horror run of wickets in the morning session on Day 2. Donno snicked off early off Dhillon for 26, before the Squash Ball was knocked over for a Golden Duck. Kev was then trapped in front soon after off Dhillon for just 3 and the score had become 5/75 before reaching Drinks on Day 2.
Norto managed to steady the ship and was starting to look good to bring Warringah home, before a rash shot saw him hole out to Meet Patel off Hunter Abeni (8 off 35), before Tex was knocked over by Sharma for 1. Warringah were then 7-87 approaching Lunch and there were some real nerves about where the match was going. In amongst all of this, was a young 14-year-old who kept calmly plugging away. Aidan Boulton played with the maturity of someone triple his age, continuing to tick runs over and, with the help of The Finals Man in Mr Rowse, saw Warringah to Lunch at 7-92, still needing 31 runs for 1st innings.
Lunch was the closest that Epping got to winning the game, as Boults and Mr Rowse kept chipping away. It wasn't long before the total was passed, off a boundary from Boults, putting one Green hand firmly on the trophy. Surely, this was going to be the final curtain.
With 1st innings assured, Mr Rowse was eventually dismissed for 14 off 51 deliveries, playing his part to get the Green Men over the line. Boults then brought up his half-century, before finally being dismissed for 57 off an amazing 149 and playing a truly match-saving innings. Charlie Wilson was then joined by Big Vic for what would be the final stand. The pair only added 3 runs but faced out 4 overs between them to get to drinks, before Armytage finally conceded the match with Warringah's score at 9/152.
Once again, the People's Team were re-established as The People's Champions for the 4th time in a row, a true Dynasty being confirmed. A match that, like all the others, threatened to be taken away, but the maturity beyond the years of the youth playing in this team really shone through, not only in this match, but throughout the entire finals series. This was a premiership that no-one could deny or begrudge. There was one last fairy-tail to be closed off. Having previously announced that this was going to be his last full-time match, having started the charge and ended the resistance, Big Vic was awarded the Player of the Final, on top of his 6-wicket Haul, on the ground that had become his 2nd home. It just had to be Vic to rewrite history, didn't it?
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Grand Final
Warringah
3/104
C Swinney 27, L Coy 20, K Morrison 19*
Pennant Hills
103
C Dickson 3/8, C Swinney 2/12, T Bourke 2/15
Warringah won by 7 wickets
Match report to come...
Thanks for tuning into this season and our wraps. Can't wait to see you all again next season!
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Warringah Contacts
Club President
Chris Melville
president.warringahcc@gmail.com
Club Captain
Ben Cook, Lachlan Molyneux and Noah Kasmar
clubcaptain.warringahcc@gmail.com
Club Secretary
Nic Johnson
secretary.warringahcc@gmail.com
Club Treasurer
Jeff Downs
treasurer.warringahcc@gmail.com
