Cricket: North West Sydney Hurricanes

March 12, 2013, midnight

FRANK GRAY SHIELD FINAL

North West Sydney Hurricanes for 2nd year in a row have gone down to Warringah in the final of Sydney Shires Frank Gray Shield U/24 One day Competition at Airey Park, Homebush on Sunday. In a much anticipated rematch to last year’s final, Hurricanes captain Joel Scurr won the toss and elected to bat first on what seemed a good batting wicket.

Unfortunately the Hurricanes started disastrously losing 3 wickets early wickets to be 3/3. Daniel Chatman and Guy Stillman tried to rebuild the innings but with the score on 41, the Hurricanes lost both batsman plus Joel Scurr unluckily for 2 to be 6/41. Then Rob Pasfield came and went for a duck and The Hurricanes were looking at an embarrassing innings with the score at 7/43. Matt Sutcliffe with 29, Daniel Knowles with 23no and Daniel McMaster fought hard and made a match of it as the 3 lower order batsman got. The Hurricanes to a total of 125 when they were dismissed in the 43rd over.

The Hurricanes made the perfect start with Scurr picking up a wicket first over and two more early wickets had the Green Men at 3/37. But that’s where it ended for North West Sydney with Warringah comfortably reaching the victory target with 13 overs to spare.

Another heartbreaking loss to the club that has now won 3 Frank Shield titles in a row.

1st and 2nd GRADE MISS FINALS SERIES

North West Sydney Hurricanes 1st Grade side have missed out on the Sydney Shires Cricket Finals with a heartbreaking 7 wicket loss away to Lindfield. A win would have seen them secure 5th place but their batsman let them down as they could only manage a score of 171 bowled out in the 42nd over. Lindfield easily chased down the target losing only 3 wickets with 10.3 overs to spare.

A nail-biting 2nd Grade game at Bruce Purser has seen 2nd Grade go down by 3 wickets with 10 balls to spare and ended their season. A win with results going their way may have seen them sneak into 6th spot but it wasn’t to be. A great fight back in the lower order between Adam Luther and Chris Steel helped the Hurricanes score 8/149 in their 50 overs. 2 wickets each to Shaun Brenner and Alex Bird was not enough to prevent Lindfield from reaching the target.

3rd Grade secured a home final at Bruce Purser with a super exciting 1 wicket win at St Ives. The Hurricanes sent the home side in and they were dismissed for 134 in 44th over. Dave McDonald 3/18 off 10 and 2 wickets each to Daniel Knowles and Daniel Wynn helped reduce the home side. The batting conditions were not easy and the Hurricanes nearly surrendered a home final but 27 from peter Ryan and 25no from Saqib Hussnain helped them just get there and a home final against Warringah.

4th Grade had a remarkable tie at Charles McLaughlin which is enough to see them into 5th place and an away final against Warringah. Both sides scored 195 with Jason Fineberg top scoring with 46 while Lachlan Schacht took 4/26 including a hat trick.

5th Grade have missed out on Tim Creer Cup finals despite a strong win to finish over Mt Pritchard-Southern Districts. The Hurricanes scored 5/215 while Mounties were dismissed for 170.

JOEL SCURR WINS GOKEL-SCURR MEDAL

Joel Scurr has won the Gokel-Scurr Medal for North West Sydney Hurricanes Player’s Player on Saturday after a close last round finish.

Scurr went into the last round 2 points ahead of Dave McDonald with McDonald securing 3 points in a Man of the Match performance in 3rd Grade on Saturday. But Scurr secured 2 points in 1st Grade and secured by 1 point the medal by part named after his father Andrew and uncle David both life members of the club.

Andrew was on hand from Coffs Harbour to present the medal to his son in an emotional presentation.