City United saved their best performance of the year and Eastern Suburbs their worst to deliver City the under-16 cricket premiership on Saturday.
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There was every reason to expect a tough, tight contest in the grand final at Lorn Park but City’s bowlers had other plans routing the powerful Griffins batting line up for just 38.
City lost just one batsman in reaching their target and got to begin their celebrations a week early with just 33 of the 100 overs of the two-day match used.
Lachlan Ballard was the only Easts batsman to reach double figures making 15. Will Stoneman and Jeremy Boardman were next best with eight and three respectively.
Easts elected to bat and negotiated the first five overs without losing a wicket before a well-constructed over by Cam Lynch brought about the fall of opener Cameron Pannowitz and the prized wicket of No.3 Matt Lynch for a rare duck.
Pannowitz fell to a sharp catch in the gully and Lynch was caught behind by wicket keeper Liam Mullard.
From there, sustained line and length bowling by Jordan Murphy, Isaac Barry (three wickets) and Jock Vivers (one wicket) brought about the demise of Easts with the last wicket being a run-out with their total on 38 off 23 overs.
In another rare failure with the bat, Isaac Barry was dismissed off the first ball of the day but that was the end of celebrations for Easts as Sam Jordan 25 no and Jordan Murphy 12 no reached the target in 10 overs..
It wasn’t the grand final pundits had expected, but both teams were outstanding throughout the season and will form the core of successful City United and Eastern Suburbs senior sides into the future.
It was semi-final day in under-12 to under-15 age groups and there were plenty of close results.
Under-12 Division 2
Minor premiers Wests defeated Easts in their semi-final and will now meet Norths in the grand final who accounted for Karuah in a very tight match.
Under-12 Division 1
Minor premiers Norths Black just edged out Dungog in a close one and will now play Easts who chased down Norths Red score with just an over to spare.
Under-13
Minor premiers Easts defeated City United and will meet Norths who were narrow winners over Wests in the other semi final.
Under-14
The grand final will be an all Eastern Suburbs affair after Easts Blue defeated minor premiers Norths and Easts White accounted for Wine Country.
Under-15
Minor premiers Raymond Terrace continued their good form with a victory over City United, while Karuah upset Tenambit Morpeth in a nail biter to earn their place in the grand final.
Congratulations to all the teams who made grand finals and well done to all the junior teams who took part in another successful Maitland junior cricket season.
The Mercury would love to share your special moments for the season and invites competing teams in the grand finals to send team photos to lachlan.leeming@fairfaxmedia.com.au.