Sutherland DCC Fourth Grade Premiers 1986-87
Sutherland District Cricket Club | April 20, 2025
Back row: Anthony Hale, Murray Graham, Darren Riley, Ted Behl, Darrell Mann, Jeff Smith, Craig Parsons, Darren Holley, Anne Coots (Scorer).
Front row: Keith Meadows, Curt Harvey, Tom Iceton (Captain), Geoff Coleman, Duncan Coots, Kerry Richards.
Absent: Merv Black.
[Extract from 4th Grade team report in 1986-87 Annual Report]
The semi-final at Tonkin saw a good all-round team effort to dispose of Northern District. Sent in to bat, we scored 311 with Duncan Coots making another fine century. Although most players contributed, we were in trouble at 8/235. Tony Hale and Keith Meadows then put on 76 runs in 129 minutes for the ninth wicket – the turning point of the match. Set 312 to win in 340 minutes, NDs struggled to 130 from 73 overs – an excellent display of very tight bowling from all bowlers simply shut them out of the match.
Sutherland 311 (D.Coots 104, K.Meadows 40, K.Richards 35, A.Hale 32*, T.Iceton 25, D.Riley 25) d. Northern District 173 (A.Hale 3-11, K.Meadows 3-55, G.Coleman 2-23, D.Riley 1-8, M.Black 1-22).
We were at Tonkin again for the final – unfortunately, this time the heavens didn’t smile favourably on us as it rained on both Friday and Saturday nights, with water getting under the covers both times (causing late starts both days). After losing the toss again (like Barry and Mick, I too had an unenviable record – 6 wins in 16 matches), we were sent in on a sticky wicket. A solid performance from the batsmen saw us 5/192 overnight. Another sticky wicket on Sunday made batting just as hard and we were all out for 236. Thus, Campbelltown were set 237 in 256 minutes. Again we set out to bowl tight and put pressure on the batsmen. A magnificent opening spell from Merv Black set us up for victory. Figures of 2-49 from 28 overs on the trot, when the batsmen were trying to keep the run-rate up, meant that they could never get into their stride. An outstanding fielding effort (our best of the season) backed up the bowlers and resulted in three run-outs as the pressure mounted. They finished with 200 from 71.4 overs.
