Griffith didn’t let the burden of favouritism weigh it down on the way to an impressive eight-wicket victory over West Wyalong in the Creet Cup final at Exies Oval on Sunday.
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The home side bowled first and dismissed West Wyalong for 107 before reaching the total in the 38th over.
The result ensured Griffith remained unbeaten and put an exclamation point on its dominance of the competition.
Griffith coach Richie Alvaro said chasing a small target had the potential to be tricky.
“Chasing over 100, you think it’s going to be easy,” he said. “It looks easy and you’re supposed to get it.
“We were confident, but things do happen in cricket sometimes.”
Griffith suffered a blow before the match when captain Haydn Pascoe was ruled out with an ankle injury. Dan Bozic took on the leadership duties and had no trouble fulfilling the role.
West Wyalong was admittedly understrength for the clash, an O’Farrell Cup scheduling conflict drawing the association's best team to Wagga. But even with its No.1 side on the park, West Wyalong would have been up against it.
Jamie Allen (34 off 25 balls) was the only batsman in the visitors’ top order to defy the home team’s bowling attack.
Jimmy Binks (3-11) returned the best figures for Griffith, but Kieran Williams (2-10) and Andrew Potter (2-5) also proved problematic for West Wyalong, which slumped to 7-62.
Late cameos from Alex Twigg (19 not out) and Jacob Bell (16) boosted West Wyalong’s total to more than 100, but it was never going to be enough.
Griffith lost Potter (11) and Logan Matheson (11) in quick succession to be 2-28 during the chase, but they were the only batsmen to return to the pavilion.
Connor Matheson (47 not out) and Jimmy Binks (30 not out) took charge of the innings and made sure Griffith reached the target without further incident.
Alvaro said it was pleasing to have the Creet Cup in Griffith hands again.
“It’s been a few years since we’ve had it,” he said.
“It’s nice to have a trophy in the cabinet again.”
Alvaro also applauded West Wyalong for fielding a side.
“It was great they could bring a team over to play, even though they had O’Farrell Cup on as well,” he said.
“They gave it their best shot, but it didn’t work out.”
Griffith: Alex Flood, Angus Kennedy, Liam Greenaway, Kieran Williams, Nathan Richards, Andrew Potter, Logan Matheson, Connor Matheson, Jimmy Binks, Dan Bozic, David Pasin, Reece Matheson, Richie Alvaro (coach).
