THE FINALS - 1st Grade v Centrals 1986
Armidale Waratahs (The Tahs) | March 26, 2026
In a bitter and often acrimonious Final, Waratahs were beaten not necessarily by the better team over the weekend of the 1985-86 Final but certainly the hungriest and one whose star players fired. Centrals had gathered some talent and an aggressive, in your face attitude which was often ugly and intimidating but never the less, highly effective. The Final was more a successful assault on a garrison that should not have been surprised but never the less was.
Both had won their semi-finals comfortably - Centrals by 42 over Easts and Waratahs, even more handsomely by 107 over Hillgrove - and in both cases their batting fired. Centrals had been 3-217 and Waratahs 2-206, both of them batting first. Both sides featured compelling bowling attacks with Waratahs perhaps slightly deeper and more proven with Andrew McNeill (#419), Michael Connolly (#293) and Roger Sattler (#378), whilst Centrals had pace and guile in the "Peters" - Browning and Hickey - and variation in spin with Michael Fraser and Peter Snell.
Two late changes for Waratahs did them no favours. Regular opener and one of their most experienced players, Graham Frost (#333), well versed in blunting fast bowling and all rounder Mark Hemmy (#501) were both ruled out through injury. Andrew Davis (#354) and Peter Tyndall (#423) came into the side, each with only two innings in 1sts for the season. The batting order was reshuffled to accommodate the loss of Frost in particular: never a good look at the last minute. One of the side's consistently best performers, Sattler, was in the worst form of his career, batting as low as eight in games and expensive with the ball.
Waratahs had a dream start, with McNeill rattling cages and Connolly and first change Sattler breaking the Centrals batting line up down. Sattler, in particular, looked like his old self, taking the game up to Centrals and giving as good as he got. At 5-49, with all but Browning gone, the game was on a plate. Then a miscalculation, a tactical error, for with their size 14's firmly on Centrals throat, Waratahs rested their quicks and turned to men of much lesser threat. Slowly, Browning and Darrel Smith started building. Small foundations at first getting the pace of the wicket and gradually changing the momentum of the game until they had raised a hundred run partnership and were ascendent. Sattler, Connolly and McNeill all returned but it was too late and even though McNeill removed both, the unlikely hitters in Centrals tail got away with butchery, helped by dropped catches.
Browning's innings was the match winner. On his day - and there were many of those - he was a delightful batsmen, with courageous defence and a bevy of the best strokes and that rare quaility, touch. This was his day.
During the tailend of Central's innings, there were some ugly scenes of bravado, greatly encouraged by a rowdy group of spectators, which was less cricket and more rugby league rabble, all of which disturbed Waratahs ... but not as much as Centrals skipper Hickey did when they came out to bat. He was quick and short and nasty, finding things in the deck which had not been apparent earlier. Browning, at the other end, bowled an impeccible line and length, going right through the defences to the wood of James Campbell (#382), who had been asked to go from the middle order to open, Tim Muldoon (#296) and Christian Quaife (#372). If HIckey's speedy flick of Connolly's edge to former team mate Snell was a blow, Browning's removal of Mulddon for a duck was cataclysmic. His last five innings had been 108, 33, 99, 61, 68.
Hickey and Browning then did what Waratahs failed to do. They bowled the first 48 overs unchanged, never letting up, backed by perfect catching - Snell held 3 - and the fieldsmen constantly amping up the atmsophere. Only the unflappable Chris Drake (#471), who had held 4 catches the day before and a very angry McNeill fought back, seven of the Waratahs batsmen dismissed in single figures as they crashed. Waratahs made it to less than half way to Centrals 272.
It wasn't a great weekend for the cricket of purists but it was effective and the efforts of Browning, Hickey and Darrel Smith were class, backed by a team which had one single focus, proving themselves right and the world wrong.
Not sure they achieved that but they stuck to what they knew, they delivered their game plan and won what became known as the Twisted Premiership.
Waratahs v Centrals - 1st Grade, 22nd & 23rd March 1986
The Twisted Men - Centrals, 1st Grade Premiers 1986
