OLD Boys are in the driver’s seat to wrap up the minor premiership after skipper Ben Middlebrook took five wickets a week after taking four against Souths to go to the top of the table heading into the final game.
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Middlebrook went on to take five on Sunday as well as he led Old Boys from the front , beating Cessnock in the Coal Board Cup.
Old Boys took out the club championship last year for the first time in 30 years and are out to get it again, but will be pushed all the way by North Tamworth who are having a stellar season including a win over Old Boys in the one-day final.
Old Boys will be out to exact revenge for that loss, although that game did even the score after Old Boys took out the War Veterans Cup over the Redbacks late last year, with Bective a dark horse behind the pair in third.
Bective won the toss and chose to bat at No 1 Oval on Saturday and, despite plenty of starts, no-one really went on with it as the premiers flexed some muscle.
Old Boys had the Bulls pinned down from the opening overs, with Aaron Hazlewood and Will Howard giving nothing away.
For the first time in a long time, Aaron Hazlewood finished wicketless, although not for trying, some spot-on line and length bowling beating the bat on several occasions as he bowled a miserly nine overs for 12 runs with three maidens.
Howard went one better with three maidens as well, but only gave up 10 runs from nine overs, as well as the wicket of Bective’s Matt Everett.
“Those boys really set it up for us,” Middlebrook said.
“It was really good tight bowling.”
With runs hard to come by, the Bective batsmen were soaking up some balls on their way to be all out for 157.
Captain Nick Pearson hit 15 from 56 balls at the top, with Jye Paterson’s second top score of 26 coming from 91 balls.
Brad Jenkinson was the only other Bull to offer up any resistance, top-scoring with a 47 not out as Middlebrook claimed his partners one by one.
The skipper bowled 17.2 overs with nine maidens to finish with 5-15.
Three bowled, one lbw and a catch were a reflection of how effective a stump to stump bowler can be.
In reply, Old Boys are one down for 30, with Adam Lole and Abel Carney at the crease after Hazlewood nicked one behind from Col Smyth for 20.
