Central North saved it’s best for last at the Bradman Cup, finishing a tough campaign with a five-wicket win at Bathurst on Thursday.
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The bowlers set the foundation restricting Illawarra to 9-142 from their 40 overs.
Matt Lynch and skipper Isaac Barry then led Central North to 5-134 in reply.
“We finished off with a win, which was nice,” Barry said.
He applauded the efforts of the bowlers throughout the week, but particularly against Illawarra.
“I think the bowlers improved across all the days at the carnival,” he said.
“Today they definitely performed their best. They were bowling a lot of dot balls.”
They bowled more consistently on a good length, which created pressure and led to wickets.
Jack Montgomery (3-28) gave them some early momentum with two wickets in his first spell. Henry Sindel also snared three wickets and Barry two.
Barry could have been excused for having flashbacks to the batting horrors of the previous two days when Adam McGuirk fell early, but Kaleb McIlveen (14) and Lynch (69) steadied the chase with a 62 run stand.
“They consolidated after the early wicket, nudged the ball around and punished the bad ball,” Barry said.
Lynch, who was adjudged the player of the match, and Barry (36) then took them within 10 runs of victory.
The improvement Barry spoke of was echoed by co-coach Kel Walls, who despite the side only finishing with one win, said there were positives they could take away from the week.
“The positive we can take out of the week is our bowling and our fielding,” he said.
“Apart from one session on the first day our fielding has been a highlight.”
He accredited the improved showing with the bat to a couple of factors.
The young Illawarrra bowling attack wasn’t the same standard as some of the the other teams they’d played.
In saying that, he said the Central North batsmen were also much better in their shot selections.
Five of the side - Nick Page, Beau Parnell, Cameron Wynn, Josh Attard, who didn’t play at the carnival after injuring his hip flexor before Christmas, and Jack Sylvester – are eligible to play at the Bradman Cup again next year, which Walls believes will stand the side in good stead.
“It was a good experience for them,” he said.