For the second time in three years the Union Cricket Club are the winners of the Dick Hunt Rosebowl senior holiday competition. Thanks to a great hundred from James Cutt they beat the previously unbeaten Valley by 52 runs.
Captain James Cutt won the toss and elected to bat with Cutt and Cameron combining for a 46 run opening partnership before Cameron was bowled of the bowling of James McNally for 6.
It was to be partnerships that saw Union through as the next batsman Duncan Drew then combined with Cutt for a 62 run partnership for the second wicket as Union moved to 108 before Drew was caught of the bowling of Patterson for 25.
With wickets in hand and looking to really move to attack Cutt then found himself batting with brother Matt. The two combined for a quick hit 63 runs with Mark Patterson being hit for 13 of three balls at one stage. The first ball James hit him for a massive six that landed on the top lip of the top terrace in front of the clubrooms, then scored a quick single to bring Matt on strike. Matt then hit another six (a slog so his brother reckons into cow corner) which was not as big as James six but still landed in the middle of the top terrace. When Matt was dismissed for 23, there was less than two over's left and with James close to scoring his debut century for Union.
Chris Ware was the next batsman in as Union looked to continue to put the pressure on the Valley fielders. The last over saw Cutt bring up his century with a single, carrying his bat for the innings and helping Union to a very competitive 175-3 of its twenty over's.
Realizing they needed almost 9 an over Valley looked to hit out at the start of there innings, but some tight bowling from the Union openers saw the pressure mount. Opening bowler Daniel Conlon soon had danger man Kelvin Mansfield out when he skied one and was well taken by James Cutt.
Mark Patterson and Nick Webster then combined for a 39 run partnership as they looked to bring Valley back into the game.
>Patterson was out to the bowling of spin bowler Stu Dickinson for 23, and Tony Grey was the next in. Grey looked to attack the bowlers as he looked to quickly increase the Valley run rate. However with the loss of Webster for 40 and the score on 97 it started a huge collapse in the Valley innings.
Going from 97-2 they lost 8 wickets for the addition of only 26 runs as spinners Dickinson and Paul Johnston ran through the Valley line up.
Dickinson took 4-20 of his fours over's including the valuable wickets of Webster and Patterson, while Johnston took 4-16 of 2.4 over's moving his career wickets to over 200.
It was left to Johnston to take the final wicket as Stan Mansfield was bowled by Johnston.
Antony Cromwell had a great day behind the stumps taking three stumping's and a spectacular diving one handed catch
. The win marking the 11th time in club history that the Dick Hunt Rosebowl will be spending its time at KGP.
Union 175-3 ( J Cutt 102no, D Drew 25, M Cutt 23 )
Valley 123 ( N Webster 40, M Patterson 23, T Grey 18, K Mansfield 11, Johnston 4-16, Dickinson 4-20 )
Union won by 52 runs
Full scorecard for the match