There was no stopping Empire as they won a back-to-back 40 Overs Cricket prem-iership on Saturday defeating Nymagee by 71 runs.
After winning the toss, Nymagee changed their usual tactics and sent Empire in to bat in the hope they could extract as much life out of the damp pitch as possible before it settled down in the afternoon.
Two brilliant batting innings however from Jay Egan and Jed Noonan ensured that Empire posted what would be a winning total of 173 runs.
The pair combined to score 104 runs in total off only 54 balls.
Man-of-the-Match, Egan, came to the crease with Empire at 2/20 and started scoring at just over two runs an over.
In just 30 balls, Egan had blasted 57 runs and shared in a 69 run partnership with Tim Hil-lam.
Hillam played his role well, blocking up one end and scoring 22 runs off 91 balls.
Noonan, following on from his Twenty20 grand final heroics from the previous week, smashed 47 runs off only 24 balls for Empire in Saturday’s 40 Overs game.
No other Empire batter however made dou-ble figures but the damage was done.
Empire were eventually bowled out for 173 runs in the 38th over.
Anthony Polack returned the best bowling figures for Nymagee taking 3/11, Rhys Lloyd took 2/24, Tadgh Waugh 2/28 and Phil Harley was at his metronomic best taking 1/4 off his eight overs spell.
In reply, Nymagee struggled with the bat, they were unable to build any partnerships and none spent much time at the crease.
After Nymagee openers Roger Mitchell and Jade Buckman fell in consecutive balls in the eighth over, the wickets kept on tumbling.
Travis Buckman (30) and Phil Harley (20) were the only other batsmen to show any resil-ience and Nymagee were rolled for 102 runs in the 32nd over.
Noonan backed up his good performance with the bat and took three wickets for 17 runs, Nicola Harbison finished with figures of 2/8 and David Watson took 2/21.—contributed
