Broomhall rescues Royals

Royals captain Rob Gibson has hailed the match-winning innings of teenager Harry Broomhall, who guided the Lions to a thrilling two-wicket win over reigning premiers Railways on Saturday afternoon.

Broomhall’s unbeaten 97 guided the Lions to victory over the Tigers, finding an unlikely ally in tailender Ben Carter to see their side to their first win over the Tigers in three seasons in the Albany Cricket Association A-grade competition. Still requiring 47 runs with only two wickets in hand, Broomhall blasted 40 runs in the 51-run partnership to bring his side home in the 43rd over.

Carter, playing only his second A-grade match, blunted and frustrated the credentialed Tigers’ seam attack as Broomhall carved his way towards a century with 16 boundaries and a towering six to push the Lions within sight of victory.

In the end, the Lions passed the Tigers’ 199 with eight balls to spare.

Gibson described Broomhall’s innings as the teenager’s best in his 35 games of A-grade cricket for the club.

“It was pretty impressive to be able to run that innings the way he did, ” he said.

“To bat like that was exceptional — I think it was one of the best innings I have seen from a young player.”

Gibson provided an ideal platform at the top of the order, smashing a quickfire 35 with seven boundaries in a 49-run opening stand with Cohen Chapman (13).

Broomhall continued to run out of partners, passing 50 in the 29th over, but at that stage the Lions only had three wickets in hand before he launched his match-winning assault on the Tigers’ attack.

“He is one of those players who looks like he has plenty of time, ” Gibson said

“I think Railways is the team you want to set your goals against.

“In this competition you have to win early matches because teams, especially the better teams, will get better.

“To win against the reigning premiers gives us confidence we now know we can be competitive against the top sides.” Earlier in the day, Brendan Grogan and left-armer Jack Batchelor did the early damage with the ball as the Tigers collapsed to 5-40 before Nathan Crudeli (57) and youngster Liam Want (44) added 102 for the sixth wicket in 17 overs.

Crudeli was eventually stumped by Gibson off seamer Aaron Williams after Want went in similar fashion.

The Tigers rued not batting out their overs, being dismissed in the 43rd over when Grogan claimed his third wicket to finish with impressive figures of 3-21.