A devastating effort with the ball from St George quick Nathan Ellis saw Saints take bragging rights and win back the Norm O’Neill Trophy in their local derby with Sutherland.
It was a maroon and whitewash weekend for Saints, with the club winning all five grades against their local rivals on Saturday as well as a Poidevin-Gray Shield quarter-final over Sutherland on Sunday.
Young quick Ellis took 5-17 from nine overs in the limited overs match at Hurstville Oval, destroying Sutherland’s top order to set up the comfortable four-wicket win.
St George captain Stewart McCabe won the toss and sent the visitors in to bat. The match was originally scheduled as a two-day fixture, only for the first day’s play to be cancelled due to last weekend’s extreme heat.
Ellis was the star for St George and picked up Sutherland openers Chris Williams (0) and Jarryd Biviano (1) to have the visitors struggling at 2-7.
Eric Denhartog was also at his best, ripping through Sutherland’s middle order with the wickets of Jamie Brown (6), Tom Doyle (29) and Peter Saroukos (0) to see the finals-chasing Sharks slump to 5-56.
Sutherland skipper Ben Dwarshuis and Daniel Rixon went about rescuing their side’s innings but when Dwarshuis (39) and Sibghat Khan (0) became Ellis’ third and fourth victims in quick succession, Sutherland looked a long way from setting a competitive total.
Rixon (54) battled to his half century before becoming Ellis’ fifth scalp, with St George’s representative quick Trent Copeland cleaning up Sutherland’s tail to see them bundled out for 169 inside 48 overs.
McCabe was full of praise for his bowlers, particularly Ellis, as they bowled St George to victory.
“I think [Ellis] can go to the next level if he get the opportunity. He’s one of those guys you love to have in your team. I can throw him the ball whenever and he wears his heart on his sleeve. His passion is outstanding. If I had 10 of him in would be unbelievable. He gives 110 per cent every time he plays,” he said.
“He’s quite quick, more of a skiddy bowler. Copes and Josh [Hazlewood] get a lot more bounce and do a bit more with lift. Nathan skids it through. But he’s surprisingly quick, I think he’d be late 130s, early 140s [kmph].
“Big Eric bowled 10 straight and bowled beautifully as well. Copes chipped in with a couple. We won the game with the ball.
“I had a chat to Copes and we thought anything that might be in it would be early, which it was after it hammered down on Friday. Then the sun came out and it flattened out for us when we batted.
“We got Williams cheaply, he’s been scoring runs and then Dwarshuis fairly cheaply as well and those are the big guns for them.”
St George were always in charge of the run chase thanks to a half century from Phil Salt. Salt’s patient 69 from 96 deliveries held Saints’ innings together as he joined opener Nicholas Stapleton (41) in a 90-run partnership.
St George lost a flurry of wickets as they neared Sutherland’s total with Copeland (14), Chris MacDougal (2) and Jonathan Rose (2) all falling before Luke Bartier (4 not out) and Ben Bourke (8 not out) eventually got Saints home.
Dwarshuis (2-26) and Jake Wilson (2-24) were the best with the ball for Sutherland who were without young, in-form spinner Daniel Fallins after he was selected in the NSW Futures League side to play in a four-day match in Perth that started on Monday.
McCabe said the impressive weekend would give the club a boost heading into the final two matches of the regular season.
“It gives us bragging rights for another year now. To win all five grades and then a semi on Sunday is unbelievable,” he said.
“To hold onto the trophy as well is important, it’s still a piece of silverware. It gives us something to work with. We’re capable of beating good teams so there is something to build on.”
On Sunday, seven wickets between Peter Francis (3-33) and Ryan Peacock (4-29) and an impressive knock from Bartier (89 not out) saw St George advance to the under-21s semi-finals with a comprehensive six-wicket victory over Sutherland at Hurstville Oval.
