By Ian Beeck and Michael Roberts | posted on March 19, 2020
RAILWAYS will find out tomorrow if they have won their seventh consecutive Albany A-Grade Cricket premiership after Saturday’s Grand Final was cancelled due to the coronavirus threat.
The Albany and Districts Cricket Association (ADCA) Executive Committee cancelled all grand final games this weekend in a meeting on Tuesday night.
ADCA president Terry Eaton said the decision comes after a strong recommendation by Cricket Australia and the Western Australian Cricket Association to cancel all cricket playing and training for the remainder of the 2019/20 season.
“It’s extreme circumstances but the community is bigger than the game of cricket,” he said.
“It’s the only sane and rational response and if you went ahead with the game and something happened, you would always be questioning yourself.
“The decision was made with the safety of all participants, volunteers and the wider community in mind.”
Mr Eaton said the association would be guided by the ADCA by-laws in deciding if premiers are awarded in their respective grades and this decision would be communicated tomorrow.
He said if the game was rained out, Railways would be named premiers but this was an unprecedented situation.
In last week’s games, Railways held on for a gritty 16-run victory over Manypeaks to go straight through to the big dance, meaning Peaks had to do it the hard way in an elimination clash against Royals.
After winning the toss and batting first, Manypeaks posted 8/149 of 48 overs before the heavens opened up and play was eventually called off.
With Manypeaks finishing higher on the ladder than Royals in the regular season, it meant Peaks progressed through to the Grand Final.
It was a harsh way for Royals to finish their season, after a nail-biting three-wicket victory over Collingwood Park on Saturday had them within touching distance of a grand final berth.
Over on Turf C, Manypeaks won the toss and sent Railways into bat under cloudy conditions that would likely favour the bowlers.
And it was a decision that paid off early with Railways openers Coen Marwick and Alan Pietersen both falling cheaply inside the first 15 overs.
It was then up to middle-order pairing Aidan Dallimore and Brendan Crudeli to rebuild the innings, and the duo had to fight hard to keep the scoreboard ticking with Railways finishing on 8/153.
In reply, Manypeaks got off to a disastrous start in their run chase, losing 3/16 inside 12 overs as Railways’ Coen Marwick tore through the top order.
Peaks slumped further to be 7/68 and Railways, holding the upper-hand throughout, put the result to bed in the last over of the game, with the deadly Marwick finishing with 4/15 off 9.1 overs.
