SHOALHAVEN’S hopes of Jeffrey Cup glory were brought crashing down in last Sunday’s final at Geoff Shaw Oval, where they suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of South Coast.
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There was plenty of excitement right from the first ball, when a chance to remove the dangerous Kieran Gray went begging.
While there was some consolation when John Muggleton bowled Michael Arblaster for a duck, there was little to smile about from then on for Shoalhaven when Gray was joined at the crease by Kerrod White.
Fresh from a lazy 196 for his club side Lake Illawarra the day before, White still had plenty in the tank, causing more than a few headaches for the Shoalhaven bowling attack.
White went on to make his second century in as many days, finishing with 153, while Gray made them pay for the missed chance by making 92 in a second-wicket partnership of 251, before both were removed in quick succession by Jordan Matthews.
Shoalhaven managed to grab a few more wickets in the later overs with Jordan Matthews (5/37) and John Muggleton (2/44) managing to avoid the onslaught, but the damage had already been done with the home side amassing a mammoth 8/332 from their 50 overs.
A good start was always going to be needed if Shoalhaven were to have any chance of winning, but unfortunately they had no more luck with the bat.
Opener Scott Fagerlund (25) was the only player in the top order to get a start with Lachlan Hall (4/29) and Joel gray (3/20) ripping through the top order, to have them reeling at 7/47 at one stage.
There was a slight wag of the tail however with the two Jordans (Matthews and Pearson) putting on 44 runs for the last wicket.
Pearson played an uncharacteristic number 11s innings, hitting three sixes on his way to 23, while Matthews was left unbeaten on 21 as Shoalhaven were bowled out
for 113.
The win completed a representative double for South Coast, who also took out the Burns Cup earlier this season.