Hawks and Bulls to meet in historic A Grade final

March 19, 2025 BY

BIG FUTURE: Fourteen-year-old Tom Joyce, who struck a memorable innings of 96 off 94 balls in the B-Grade preliminary final for Margaret River Hawks against Yallingup-Oddbods on Sunday. Photo supplied.

MARGARET RIVER HAWKS will face up against an in-form Cowaramup in this Saturday’s showpiece of the Busselton-Margaret River cricket season: the A-Grade grand final for the Barnard Cup at Gloucester Park.

Hawks earned the right to host the premiership playoff when they defeated Dunsborough at Margaret River last Saturday, while their opponents have won through to the grand final after beating Vasse in the minor semi-final at Cowaramup on Saturday and then knocking over Dunsborough in the preliminary final at Dunsborough on Sunday.

Hawks are chasing their 12th Barnard Cup while Cowaramup have won the Cup only once before, in 2016-17, and are making just their fourth grand final appearance since their club reformed in 1997.

Either way, history will be made.

It will be the first southern derby grand final in the 114 years of the Busselton-Margaret River Cricket Association, and the first time that the A-Grade grand final will be fought between two clubs from outside the City/Shire of Busselton.

Hawks will be trying to atone for last year’s shock grand final defeat at the hands of Dunsborough and have arguably the better attack while Cowaramup – who are on a six-game winning streak – will be at full strength and have the stronger batting.

The Bulls will have the benefit of international cricketer Nathan Coulter-Nile in their lineup, alongside exciting players such as Fraser Oates, Connor Oates, Chris McLean, Aayush Patel, Cam Smith, Tom Coulson and young skipper Archer Coates.

It promises to be an intriguing battle.

Meanwhile this Saturday’s B-Grade grand final on the synthetic oval at Margaret River for the Barnard Shield will be contested between Dunsborough and Yallingup-Oddbods, while the C-Grade grand final, fought up on the Nippers Oval, will feature Dunsborough against Vasse for the Penfold Shield.

The B-Grade and C-Grade preliminary finals on Sunday were stand-out features of last weekend’s first round of finals.

In the B-Grade preliminary final at Gloucester Park, Yallingup-Oddbods recovered from a slow start to post a fine total of 7-208 off 45 overs against Margaret River Hawks.

Hawks slumped to 4-45 in reply and appeared no chance of winning, only for 14-year-old Tom Joyce to smash a brilliant innings of 96 runs off 94 balls (including 6 fours and 3 sixes) and share a partnership of 128 with Spike Jacobs (striking a valiant 38 runs) to get the home side right back in the game.

It came down to the final over in which Hawks needed 10 runs to win, and saw them bowled out for 203 to lose by a paltry 5 runs.

YOBS veteran Neil Langenhoven (3-34) took his tally of club wickets to 599.

The C-Grade preliminary final at Cowaramup between Cowaramup and Vasse was even closer.

Cowaramup knocked up 6-197 off 40 overs batting first, before Vasse, after being 7-108 at one stage, ended up winning off the final ball of the 40 th over with their last pair at the crease.

Youngster Koby Mott (45) and overseas player Mahesh Uragala (33 not out) were the heroes for Vasse, adding 82 for the eighth wicket.

Last Saturday’s A-Grade major semi-final at Margaret River saw Dunsborough bowled out for 87 by Hawks after choosing to bat first, with Darcy Hume (43) standing head and shoulders above his teammates.

Leigh Westcott (3-14 off 10 overs) and Rumesh Silva (2-10 off 10 overs) were in brilliant form for Hawks, while Aaron Thomas, Grant Garstone and Peter Crimp also contributed.

Needing 88 to win, Hawks were 5-38 and in plenty of trouble before Garstone (33 not out) and a determined Silva (14 not out) guided their team home to win by five wickets.

On Sunday, Dunsborough again disappointed with the bat after dismissing Cowaramup for 131 in the A-Grade preliminary final at Dunsborough.

Aayush Patel (59) was the mainstay for the Bulls.

Dunsborough responded with 76 all out, Cain Reynolds (20) and Ajith Rajapaksha (27) the only batsmen to register double figures, as their defence of the Barnard Cup came to an end.

Fast bowler Connor Oates (3-20), offspinner Tom Coulson (2-10) and left-armer Archer Coates (a tidy 3-4) did all the damage for the Bulls.

Newcomer Anthony Quinn finished his first A-Grade season for Dunsborough in style, taking 3-22 off 10 overs on Saturday and then 4-25 against the Bulls on Sunday.

The B-Grade major semi-final last Saturday saw Dunsborough (9-191) defeat Hawks (152) at Dunsborough, with Tully Schofield (75) and Henry Marriott (4-18) shining for Dunsborough and Al

McIlroy (58) and Blake Gillam (4-36) best for Hawks, while the minor semi-final saw Yallingup-Oddbods defeat St Marys at Barnard Park.

The C-Grade major semi-final resulted in Dunsborough Blue (4-136) comfortably overtaking Cowaramup (134), despite opener Anthony Lunt (54 not out) carrying his bat through the entire innings for the Bulls.

Dunsborough White were eliminated by Vasse in the other C-Grade semi, with Richard Atkinson (54 off 58 balls) batting with urgency as his side won by seven wickets with five overs to spare.