Cricket
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GRIFFITH Blue has secured the coveted Milliken Shield, holding on for a nailbiting 11-run win over Hay in Sunday's final at Exies No.2 Oval.
Both sides batted out their 40 overs but it was the Griffith Blue side, which won the toss and batted first, that was able to score more freely and take a hard-earned victory.
Hay made a good fist of their run chase thanks largely to an unbeaten 32 from Lily Tassall but fell just short of the 157 set by the home outfit.
Griffith Blue's top order was firing on all cylinders with a series of good partnerships setting the platform for the win.
Openers Ed Toole (29) and Jack Hutchinson (5) put on 31 while first drop Tom Greenaway added a handy 15, taking Griffith's score to 3-67.
What followed was a match-winning partnership between captain Dean Bennett (36) and Blake Argus (35), who dismantled the Hay attack and took the game by the scruff of the neck.
Both players retired unbeaten, and Griffith's total was at 140 when the next wicket eventually fell.
The bottom half of the batting line-up failed to make any meaningful contribution to the score but it mattered little, with Griffith reaching 9-157 at the end of the innings.
Hay's run chase got off to a disastrous start, crumbling to 2-6 after opening bowler Blake Argus (3-12) piled on the early pressure.
Greenaway (1-11) was also on song but Hay slowly dragged themselves back into the game with a third wicket partnership of 32 and a fifth wicket partnership of 37.
Digby Lilburne (30) and D Cullenward (13) were the best of the Hay batters but that was until Tassall strode to the crease, punishing some loose Griffith bowling.
But even her best efforts weren't enough to recover the game for the visiting team.
Griffith's best bowler aside from the openers was Bennett, who bowled a tidy spell of seven overs to finish with 3-19.
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Cricket
HALF-CENTURIES from Leeton batsmen Nathan Tang and Hugh Collins were enough to see off Griffith Red in Sunday's Ross Shield decider at Mark Taylor Oval.
The home side won the toss, elected to bat first and quickly claimed the ascendancy as Tang and Collins - who both retired on 50 - stole the spotlight with powerful but assured knocks against an out-of-sorts Griffith Red attack.
Leeton lost just one wicket in the innings when opener Campbell McMaster (7) was trapped in front by Jack Rowston, bringing them to 1-27 - but it was all one-way traffic after that as the hosts finished on 1-151 after their 40 overs.
Griffith Red's run chase got off to the perfect start as Rowston (25) and Reece Matheson (24) put on an opening partnership worth 68 runs.
But no other Griffith player managed to replicate their efforts, let alone reach a double-figure score, as the visitors fell 41 runs short of the mark.