Jones brothers help Thunder storm to victory against Hurricanes

While in Hobart, the pair’s Thunder side, as well as North Nowra-Cambewarra’s Naomi Woods’ women’s side, dominated the Hurricanes – winning four of the possible six games, across the three days, to take out the prestigious competition.

Nate, who helped the Thunder win the inaugural cup in Orange in 2017, and his side lost game one 8/125 to 5/124, despite the paceman taking 1/23 from his four overs.

Their side didn’t fair any better in the second match, falling 2/137 to 7/134, with Nate and Luke finishing with figures of 0/5 and 0/16 respectively.

But the Thunder hit back in game three, winning 2/175 to 8/155 – with Nate claiming 1/20.

“Personally, I think I played well and did the job I was supposed to do,” Nate said.

“There’s always room for improvement though – it was just the little things that let us down in the first two games.

“But in the end, we knew what we needed to do to win and we made a plan and stuck to it.

“Having to go to another state to defend our title was challenging to say the least.

“You could see the support that the Hurricanes had behind them and you could see that they really came to play hard.

“So after winning that cup again was a fantastic experience.”

While Nate thoroughly enjoyed his first experience with the Thunder last year, having his younger brother in this year’s side it even more special.

“It was great having Luke there along side me,” he said.

“He really stepped up in more ways than one and the boys all treated him like he’d been there for years – it was great to see.

“Overall, I’d say we had a lot more fun on and off the field this year – we all had that mateship that made it a better experience for all of us.”

Making Nate even more proud was that fact he was representing his whole family and tribe by pulling on that Thunder jersey.

“I try my best to always represent my culture the best I can, not just in cricket but just day to day as it’s something I’m very proud of,” he said.

“So to be wearing that jersey again was an honour.”

Despite the men’s team only winning one of their three matches, the combined trophy was secured as Woods’ women’s team won all three of their matches.