With only A Grade and C1 left to battle on the weekend in the Semi Finals, A Grade started the ball rolling by heading down the highway to Cygnet to take on Slab Road.
After winning he toss and electing to bat (a rarity this season), the runs flowed quickly for North Huon, but wickets did as well.
Brad Pitt and Shane Fletcher had 24 on the board inside 3 overs before Pitt got caught on a leading edge, Josh Woolley for the second week in a row played a cracking shot only to pick out the fielder, and when Crowe departed 69 was on the board in the tenth over, but with 3 in the shed.
Fletcher went in the 15th for 31 with the score on 90, and when another 2 were lost together at the 21st over things were not looking so bright at 6-106.
A couple of old timers in Phil Bell and Marcus Raine then dug in to build a partnership and soak up some overs, avoiding a complete collapse.
The next 18 overs produced a more sedate 83 runs, but more importantly stopped the fall of wickets.
Raine nicked off for 40 in the 39th, and Josh Stevenson joined Bell and the two combined to see out the overs, and put on a further 75 runs to get the total to a respectable 7-264, Bell with a team high 59* and Stevo with a quick fire 45*.
With a defendable total the bowlers were confident, and while no early inroads were made into the Slab line up, the run rate was kept in check, 88 runs going in the first 25.
With 176 still needed from the last 25 overs, wickets in hand were to be crucial as Slab pushed up the scoring. a clump of 3 wickets was taken within two overs to leave the score on 3-121 from 30, but the next partnership would put on 105 in 13 overs, with North Huon not having any answers to slow it.
A run out proved to be the partnership breaker, but the pressure was right on the Warriors. North Huon were able to chip away with 3 more wickets and push the game to the last over, but Slab Road proved too god on the day, passing the total in the last over to advance to next week.
C1 Grade had joined A Grade in finishing fourth, and travelled to Huonville for the elimination Semi Final.
Batting first, North Huon got off to a steady start, getting to 45 with out loss through Jackson Pastoor and Joe Roberts. Pastoor started a run of 3 quick wickets before Roberts consolidated with Andy Crowe, taking the score up to 138 before Crowe was dismissed. From that point, it was all Huonville, the Warriors losing 7-24 to be bundled out for 162.
With early wickets needed, North Huon couldn’t get the break they needed. Codie Rawnsley, Blake Lovell and and Pastoor were all eventually able to get wickets, but it was to little too late – the small total not being defendable. A great effort from all of those involved in the side throughout the year to make the finals.
This brings the playing side of things closed for the year for the Warriors, with the next calendar event being the Annual Dinner to be held at the Glen Huon Hall on April 8.
If you haven’t already, please RSVP to Marcus Raine on 0414 641 398 if you would like to attend.
The committee is already working hard on putting things in place for next year, and is looking to again improve from our position this year.
Lastly, the Club would like to thank all of those that have been involved and helped out during the year, both on and off the field. There are too many here to name individually, but your help is greatly appreciated.