In a game that was to be a preview of the grand final, Empire inflicted upon Nymagee their first defeat of the season in the 40 Overs senior cricket competition.
The two teams had already booked their place in the grand final in a fortnight, but in the last game of the regular season that was played at Nymagee on Saturday, Empire sent a message to Nymagee beating them by 15 runs.
Batting first, Empire posted a score of 8/244 from their 40 overs.
Their middle batting order of Jake Harbison (45), Robbie Mitchell (64) and Tarun Reddy (41) laid the platform for their big score.
Travis Buckman was the best of the Nymagee bowlers taking 3/40 while Phil Harley chipped in with 2/26.
In reply, Nymagee fell 15 runs short of the required target.
Nymagee’s top four batsmen, Mitch Holt (51), Roger Mitchell (42), Phil Harley (41) and Pat Dillon (33) had their team on track, but Empire was able to take crucial wickets at key moments in the match to restrict Nymagee to 9/229 from their 40 overs.
Harbison returned the best bowling figures for Empire taking 4/31, Reddy finished with 2/21, Jay Egan had 2/40 and Taugh Waugh claimed 1/26.
Nymagee and Empire will meet each other in the grand final of the 40 Overs competition Saturday week.—contributed
