Jarrod Cahill’s 43 nearly brought Griffith back from the dead in the 20-run O’Farrell Cup loss to Holbrook.
Cricket
GRIFFITH has become the second victim of the Holbrook and District Cricket Association's giant-killing O'Farrell Cup run.
A week on from stunning previous holders Leeton, Holbrook batted away Griffith's challenge for the most prized piece of silverware in Riverina cricket with a tight 20-run win on Sunday.
Despite restricting the underdogs to just 149 runs from more than 50 overs in the middle, a disastrous top-order batting collapse proved Griffith's undoing.
Captain Marc Tucker who was in scintillating form with the ball, taking six wickets suggested his men were too devil-may-care in pursuit of a very gettable total, and paid the ultimate price.
"We went out there with the wrong mindset," he said. "Everyone was getting themselves out, not working themselves in for five overs and getting their eye in before playing shots.
"We should have knocked them over, really. On paper we're a better team but we just didn't perform on the day.
"It's a learning curve for us. I told the boys we shouldn't be letting those ones slip."
Openers Justin Winkler and Phil Burge started the innings the right way but as soon as the latter fell for nine, Griffith folded like a house of cards.
Winkler (17) and his brother Jamie (four) dismissed cheaply, with Haydn Pascoe (four), Tom Burge (five) and Tim Rand (one) following soon after to leave Griffith staring at a demoralising defeat at 6-46.
"There were a couple of lbw decisions in there that could have gone the other way but bad shot selection contributed to that, I guess," Tucker said.
However, in-form all-rounder Jarrod Cahill (43) and paceman Chris Mansell (21) came to the rescue and brought Griffith back into the contest.
Cahill was in terrific touch, smacking six fours and going over the rope once.
But he holed out to a man on the boundary as he chased another monster six, and with him went Griffith's hopes of victory.
"If that shot was a bit longer and it was a six, who knows what would have happened then," Tucker said.
"We were all sitting there thinking we were gone but when those two started hitting a few fours, and we thought we might get this now."
Earlier, Tucker's 6-20 ensured he was the standout bowler amongst a star-studded attack that was firing on all cylinders.
"I was pretty happy with how I went but it was all about the guys bowling before me. They bowled tight and set up the game. I just cleaned up for them."
Griffith is hoping to get another crack at securing the coveted O'Farrell Cup on February 24, which is the date the local association has tentatively booked in for a rematch.
