Dane Anderson drew all of his big-game experience and guided Westbury to a Greater Northern Cup win beyond any of its expectations.
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The Shamrocks faced a tough final at Ingamells Oval once the reigning champions knocked off heavily favoured South Launceston in last Sunday’s semi-final.
But the former Sheffield Shield batsman quickly took the game away from Ulverstone from the outset.
He belted 95 off 82 balls that had included 13 fours and two sixes to dramatically reduce the chances of the visiting Black Caps.
Winning captain Richard Howe said the knock proved to be indicative of the side’s mantra for the day.
“We sort of spoke at the start of the day that it’s finals time when the good players stand up,” Howe said.
“You back your team to go out there everyday, but there wasn’t too many feet put in the wrong spot today.”
Greater Northern Raiders teenager Jake Williams backed up Anderson with a steady 27 and when the game’s star departed at 5-166, keeper Daniel Murfet took over with 30 off 42 balls to get Westbury to 9-231.
But Howe paid tribute more to the bowlers’ efforts, pinpointing their contribution as the decisive factor.
While the ball came onto the bat early, the batsmen found the older ball skidding on and hard to score runs.
“We put a big emphasis on the first 20 balls for batsman to come out and make it really hard for them,” Howe said.
Top-edges resulted in the wickets of opening batsmen Jason Snare (4) and Matt Talbot (19) on the back of Jono Chapman’s persistent line and length bowling.
Josh Walmsley held on sternly for 43 to see his side to 8-115 until Corey Briggs (4-12) cleaned up the tail.
“He was quite excited playing against his old club and bowled really well today,” Howe said of Briggs.
“It was one of those wickets where skiddy bowlers like him sort of come on a bit.”
“So it was a good reward for him.”