The Battapi have made it back to back A Grade premierships with a grand final victory over Cambridge Cats. Forbes District Cricket Association hosted A Grade and B Grade finals across the lake-front Grinsted and South Circle ovals on Saturday in a day filled with excitement. In A Grade, the Battapi overcame a pressured run chase with a tight bowling attack from the Cambridge Cats, while in the B Grade grand final, the Forbes Sport & Rec Bowlie Tigers were able to secure another title to their collection. A GRADE On Grinsted Oval, the Cambridge Cats won the toss and elected to start the day with the bat. Early on, the Cats were off to a strong start with Hunter Hawke taking on the Forbes Battapi opening attack managing to score a quick 28 runs before falling to Battapi spinner Elliott Parker, having Cambridge at 1/38. With momentum taken over by some tight bowling from the Battapi, the home side was able to strike to keep the opposition to 4/38. A cameo from middle order batsman Shaun Bateson (15), and a tail ending partnership of Greg Doyle (25 not out) and Graeme Bayliss (7 not out) lifted the Cambridge to a total score of 8/102 from 30.0 overs. Great bowling was on display for the Battapi by Brenton Howarth 4/19, Harry Leadbitter 2/10 and Ollie Patterson 1/8 off their six overs each. After Cambridge had set their total, Charlie Mitton (10) and Will Seyffer (21) come to the crease looking to score early. An important patient innings from Ky O’Byrne (18) helped steering an innings where middle order wickets fell cheaply for the home team. Harry Leadbitter came to the crease for the Forbes Battapi at 4/38, and much like O’Byrne, Leadbitter played an a crucial innings to navigate a way to victory with a match sealing 40 not out, to chase down the Cambridge Cats total of 102 in the 29th over. Assisting Leadbitter at the end was Ollie Patterson, who scored the winning runs with a nice stroke shot for three, giving the Forbes Battapi a maiden back-to-back A grade titles. For the Cambridge Cats, a great bowling display by young gun Zac Guy with an impressive 3/10 (6.0), and Shaun Bateson with neat figures of 1/7 (6.0). A well deserved man of the match was awarded to Harry Leadbitter. Meanwhile the B Grade grand final was playing out on South Circle Oval, where Tigers Captain Jayme Sherritt had won the toss and elected to bat first against the Magpies. Tigers captain Jayme Sherritt accepts the B Grade trophy. The experienced Mark Stirling took to the middle and played an instrumental role with the willow. Stirling scoring an emphatic 64 to lead the Tigers to a total of 10/145 runs off 28.0 overs. Contributions from the Tigers were also scored by Jacob Reid (12), Jye Skinner (13) and Warwick Edgerton (17). An impressive display of bowling for the Magpies outfit from Zeke Hartwig taking 6/16 off 4.0 overs, backed up by Henry Hodges with figures of 3/11 off 5.0 overs. An unfortunate day with the bat from the Magpies, saw the team all out for 17 runs in the second innings. Joe Morrison claiming 10 runs, while some strong bowling from Isaac Sly 5/15 off 5.1 overs, and Mark Stirling 5/2 off 5.0 overs. A well deserved man of the match rewarded to Mark Stirling.
