HAWKESBURY Cricket Club has gone undefeated through four rounds of T20 cricket, and finished on top of the NSW Premier Cricket competition’s Twenty20 Cup.
The club will now face Northern District in a home semi-final on Sunday.
A victory in that match would see the club earn a chance to play at the Sydney Cricket Ground on December 17 in the preliminary and possibly even grand final.
Hawkesbury Cricket Club president Richard Timbs said the club was elated with the T20 results.
“Confidence is high at the moment. We beat some good teams with some good players, but we would consider ourselves a very strong team in the short format,” he said.
“We would like to think we’ll have a pretty good atmosphere down at our home ground on Sunday.”
Timbs said the combined spin attack of Nair, Qadir, Abdul Kherkhah and Josh Clarke had paid dividends for the club.
Hawkesbury defeated Blacktown on Sunday, thanks to a solid team performance.
Blacktown batted first after winning the toss and posted 97 in 19.1 overs.
Arjun Nair was the pick of the bowlers for Hawkesbury. He bowled four overs, had three wickets and conceded just 14 runs.
Usman Qadir also had three wickets from four overs, and went for just 15 runs, while Jay Dyball and Luke Courtney chipped in with one wicket each, and Abdul Kherkhah took two.
With the bat, Ryan Mizzi, who also had a stumping in the field, hit 44 off 32 balls, including a six and seven boundaries, while his opening partner Josh Clarke hit 28 off 32.
Timbs encouraged everyone to get down and support the club on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a Josh Clarke century in first grade was not enough for Hawkesbury to chase down Northern District’s total on Saturday, in a round six draw.
Rain hampered play at Mark Taylor Oval on Saturday, preventing Hawkesbury from chasing down the 292 Northern District set.
Clarke scored 103 off 179 balls, in a knock which included two sixes and 10 boundaries, before he was eventually sent back to the sheds as the last wicket of the day.
Dale McKay, batting at number three, added 75 runs off 98 balls in a 132-run second wicket partnership with Clarke.
At stumps, Hawkesbury was 5-237, in a match the club feels got away.
Second grade, however, was able to claim a 111-run win, thanks to a Tim Wilson century on the first day of the match, followed up by a five wicket haul by Salman Irshad.
Third grade also had a solid win, with 91 runs the difference between the two teams.
Connor Mizzi’s half-century in the first innings, followed by four wickets from Matt Williams and three from Adam Renfrey, helped the team to win the match.
Fourth grade was in a commanding position, but rain interrupted its match, to see the game result in a draw.
Fifth grade also had a draw, although was perhaps a bit lucky, as it still needed 41 runs with just two wickets remaining.
After six rounds, Hawkesbury is in a great position in sixth place on the club championship ladder with 404 points.
Round seven will see Hawkesbury play Parramatta in a one-day match on Saturday, December 9.