Tigers skittle County in grand final romp

Railways capped another brilliant season in the Albany Cricket Association A-grade competition, demolishing rivals North County by eight wickets on their way to a fourth-straight premiership at Hard North on Saturday.

The Bulldogs won the toss and skipper Graeme Weinert has no hesitation in batting first but their innings never gained any momentum as they were skittled for just 79 inside 27 overs by the talented Tigers attack.

Fast bowler Nathan Crudeli finished with four wickets, to be named man-of-the-match, while all-rounder Jeremy Wood also snared four wickets for the Tigers.

It only took the Tigers two balls to strike, prize wicket Craig Tonkin seeing the first ball slide down leg side for a wide before spooning a return catch to Nathan Crudeli, the next ball to be out for a demoralising duck.

Neil Ferreira joined son Michael Ferreira as they steadied things briefly but Nathan Crudeli struck again to end the partnership.

Neil Ferreira departed caught behind for 17 and the Bulldogs slumped to 4-34 quickly as Michael Ferreira (6) and Gary McGlade (0) were removed. Matthew Ferreira and Harry Broomhall combined for 20 runs but Wood’s nagging length from the North Road end was rewarded when Matthew Ferreira fell on 11.

Wood then had Broomhall chop onto his stumps also for 11 and the seamer was on a hat-trick when Aaron Williams feathered one to keeper Aidan Dallimore without scoring.

Nathan Benson survived the hat-trick ball but the resistance from the Bulldogs lower order didn’t last long as swing bowler Coen Marwick returned to take the final wicket, the Bulldogs all out for 79 in 26.4 overs

Nathan Crudeli was terrific with 4-17 off his eight overs while Wood’s all-round value was evident with figures of 4-20 off his eight overs.

It was always going to be a comfortable chase for the Tigers as openers Brendan Crudeli and Jeremy Wood took 28 runs from the first five overs.

Wood was the first wicket to fall on 18 off the wily Tonkin ending a 46-run opening partnership but his departure led to Brendan Crudeli upping the ante, as he blasted three sixes in an entertaining knock of 46. Preliminary final hero Glen Battersby eventually removed Brendan Crudeli four short of a half century but there was little to celebrate as Matt Walters belted an unbeaten 16 runs to get the Tigers across the line.

Walters fittingly crunched a six down the ground to bring up the winning runs, finishing 2-85 with 36 overs to spare, while inspiration 23-year-old captain Zane Marwick was at the other end to enjoy the moment.

Bulldogs skipper Weinert was proud of his side’s efforts but conceded they were outplayed in all facets of the game.

“We won the toss — that was good — and we thought batting first would help us a lot to post a 150-200 score,” he said. “Losing Craig second ball of the game, we kept losing wickets continuously and couldn’t get any momentum going ... I’m proud of the boys just making the grand final, really, even though it was an anticlimax and Railways won quite easily.”