Junee Stallions Cricket Club have had their finals hopes doused by Stockinbingal after Saturday’s match saw the end of their season.
They needed Stockinbingal to lose against Grenfall, but a score of 7/193 (40) – 6/160 (40) saw the Junee hopefuls losing their chance of redemption.
Junee ended this season with the wooden spoon below Grenfell, winning four games and losing five with four byes.
Player Will McGrath said, “It’s still our first year in A-grade competition, and to be able to have a crack at finals was still a positive sign and something to definitely build on.”
“A lot of the boys haven’t played at that level of competition before. It’s just unfortunate that we couldn’t get our strongest team on the park for most of the weeks due to unavailability, shift work, and other things.
“A lot of the boys are keen, so I said, ‘we’ll go again next year and aim for the top four.’”
Seeing the team fight for their position in the finals was a pivotal moment for Will, although he said they could’ve pushed for the top two if they’d applied themselves a little more.
“There were a few individual moments, a few 50s from the boys, which were good to see,” he said.
“It’s massive to see how far it’s come. We heard stories from people who played 20, 30 years ago and how they are still passionate about cricket and what we are trying to do to keep it alive and keep it going. Our social media is growing as well; it’s gaining traction, and having the community know that cricket is still in Junee every year is massive.
“It really brings it all together. We’ve got no real competition, unlike soccer and rugby league in the winter, so we can unite and it brings everyone within the community together in the summer time.”
An “overall success” and something to build on, Will said they gained a lot of traction and have seen more interest gathering for next year’s season.
“It’s a good stepping stone to potentially have a stronger side next year,” he said.
“A thank you to all supporters that came down every week, and a big shoutout to our major sponsor, the Commercial Hotel.
– Jack Murray
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