Roebuck Cricket Club seal Broome Cricket A-grade title after strong win against Mangrove Cricket Club

Roebuck Cricket Club are this season’s Broome Cricket A-grade champions, defeating rivals Mangrove Cricket Club in a thrilling clash at Nipper Roe Oval last weekend. The two teams went head-to-head a few weeks ago in the qualifying round, with Mangrove locking down their grand final spot early. But Roebuck would not let the top gong slip that easy, winning against Dirty Dozen in the semifinals last week and turning up to Saturday’s pitch with something to prove. The toss was won by Mangrove, who stepped up to bat first with Will Hodge and Thomas Chapman leading the team. Hodge managed just six runs off nine balls before being caught out by Roebuck’s Daniel Nicholas. He was quickly replaced by Thomas Campbell who was struck out for a duck via LBW. Hope was renewed when Bryon Little walked on to the pitch, scoring 33 runs off 45 balls. However, it faulted from then on as teammates failed to keep the momentum going. All out for 70 runs from 17.1 overs, it took Roebuck just 12 overs and two wicks to take the crown. A Patrick De Souza and Ryley Alexander partnership saw 15 runs on the board before the first wicket, with De Souza falling via LBW to see Damien King step in and hit 13. Then it was Matt Sear who brought it home, striking an impressive 36 runs to see his team redeem their round 12 loss and sweep to the 2022 trophy. Light rain welcomed the B-grade teams Dirty Dozen and Mangrove to the pitch, in what was to be a tight game. Mangrove won the toss and elected to bat, reaching a total of 91 runs from 19.1 overs. Much like the A-grade final, it took just four Dirty Dozen batsmen to make the 93 runs required in 16 overs — sealing the B grade trophy for 2022.