Empire Billy Goats were soundly beaten by Golf Club in the 40 Overs Cricket grand final game on Saturday at Ward Oval.
Empire, the defending champions, won the toss and elected to bat first, hoping to set a challenging total for Golf Club to chase.
However, their batting performance was well below par as the wickets fell in quick succession and they were bowled out for a meagre 25 runs in just 17.2 overs.
Man of the Match, Jason Hampel, was the pick of the bowlers for Golf Club as he took a hat-trick and finished with impressive figures of four wickets for just three runs in his six overs.
Peter Robinson also bowled well for Golf Club, picking up three wickets for just three runs in his three overs.
In response, Golf Club managed to chase down the measly target of 26 runs in 7.4 overs with eight wickets in hand.
Alec Fraser was the top scorer for Golf Club with six runs while Scott Toomey and Jake Harbison also contributed with four runs and five runs not out, respectively.
Tristan Everett was the pick of the bowlers for Empire as he picked up two wickets for just five runs in his four overs.—contributed
Editor’s note: There has been some speculation that Empire’s score of 25 may be the lowest score in a grand final in Cobar Cricket history. Local cricket historian, John Collins, advises that back in the 1968/69 season (when grand finals were played over two days) Kerrigundi bowled Cobar out for just 24 runs in the first innings. That season Cobar had been the dominant team in Cobar cricket as they had many of the Potter family playing with them. Cobar had won the two previous premierships and were the favourites. They were bowled out the following week for 83.
