Appleby captain: 'It doesn't get better than that'
Appleby has beaten Invercargill-Old Boys in a thrilling 2022-23 Southland senior club cricket final to gets its hands on the prized ILT Premier League trophy.
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Those at Queens Park late on Saturday got to witness grassroots sport at the highest intensity.
Tears flowed from the Invercargill-Old Boys changing room as they dealt with coming oh so close to back-to-back Southland senior club cricket titles.
On the flipside smiles beamed from Appleby’s players and their supporters as the celebrations started.
The two clubs had just contested a thrilling ILT Premier League final that went to the wire.
Appleby batted first and posted 201 for eight in a reduced 44-over-per-side contest - a more than competitive total. Invercargill-Old Boys then fell 23 runs short.
There were more twists and turns than a roller coaster. More on that to come, let’s first capture Appleby captain Sam Downing’s reaction to such a special win.
Appleby hadn’t beaten Invercargill-Old Boys in two seasons and as a result, many leading into the final picked Invercargill-Old Boys to go back-to-back.
“I’m pretty lost for words to be honest, it’s really special,” Downing said.
“I think it’s Clarkey’s [Jamie Clark] eighth final, CJ’s [Calum Johnstone] seventh, there is a group of us who that’s about our fifth. We’ve lost three finals in the past four-five years.
“It’s really hard to win, and Old Boys are a great team, as we saw today. Really pleased that we’ve taken our learnings in the past couple of seasons playing against them and put that into use. It’s just so special.”
“It doesn’t get better than this. This is my second [title]. I think I won my first when I was 16, it’s been a few years between drinks.”
Invercargill-Old Boys has generally been at their best batting first so there was little surprise Appleby won the toss and made Invercargill-Old Boys bowl first in the final.
As has been the case throughout most of the 2022-2023 season, for Appleby it was Kieran Lloyd who led the way with the bat.
His knock of 61 provided vital. Aaron Hart also posted a half-century as the pair put on 80 for the third wicket.
Reid Murray’s innings of 34 was also important in getting Appleby to that total of 201 for eight.
Blake Buttar-Scurr was the pick of the Invercargill-Old Boys bowlers with his three for 30 and he would later prove to also be the star with the bat setting up that thrilling finish.
When Appleby reduced Invercargill-Old Boys to 59 for five Appleby already had one hand on the trophy.
However, the Invercargill-Old Boys’ middle to lower order turned the ship around and at one stage probably had many thinking they were on top.
Buttar-Scurr was the star with his 72 from 62 balls.
Just before he was bowled by Downing Invercargill-Old Boys required 25 runs at less than a run a ball with two wickets in hand.
He departed before Lloyd then trapped Sam Nicholson in front LBW to claim the final wicket and start the celebrations.