Cuballing win A-grade Upper Great Southern Cricket cup after a thrilling five-run victory against Wandering

Cuballing upset the Upper Great Southern Cricket Association pecking order by defending 192 to clinch the A-grade grand final over minor premiers Wandering on Saturday. The underdogs even had the audacity to claim the flag on Wandering’s home turf, in a contest which went to the wire and ended with the visitors hanging on for a five-run victory. Key to their success was Byron Blevin’s century, the nuts and bolts of the Cuballing innings as he carried his bat from first to last, fending off everything Wandering could throw at him. His unbeaten 103 came off 134 balls and included eight fours as he shrugged off the regular loss of his batting partners to keep his head throughout the 45 overs as his side finished on 5-192. It wasn’t just his batting which kept everyone on their toes as his celebration when he reached 100 was also a thing of beauty — helmet off, arms aloft and a quick jig around the wicket to show Wandering exactly what they were up against. He had a bit of help, but not much. Bevan George added some icing to the cake with an unbeaten 29 coming in at seven but the best of the rest was Joe Dowling’s 20 and then Rhett Ballard’s 15. With Blevin in charge, the bowlers toiled almost in vain though Toby Blechynden (2-38) picked up the useful scalps of Andrew Harris and Kendal Ballard. Joshua Brennan, Ben McMillan and Bailey Parsons grabbed a wicket apiece. There was nothing too shabby about the Wandering reply as the top order, bar Lewis Parsons (five) all got starts but just could not keep going. Jacob Schorer (21), Blake Edgerton-Warburton (12), Ben Sherry (29) and McMillan (10) took Wandering to 5-92 but it was when Bailey Parsons arrived at No.6 that things got moving and the tension racked up. Teaming up with Troy Edgerton-Warburton (20) and then Jordan Hughes (27), Wandering were suddenly 6-164 and with victory in sight. However, Bailey Parsons had just notched his half-century when he was run out by Dowling for 52 in the 39th over and that rather put the dampeners on what was becoming an intriguing chase. Hughes held his own as William Schorer, Brennan and Lewis Schulz blocked their way to seven more runs but when Huhges was run out by Brock Francis in the penultimate over it was left to Brennan and Schulz at 9-185 to grab the eight runs needed for the win. However, with just two added the game was up when Brennan was caught by Rhett Ballard off Francis and Cuballing were left celebrating a famous win. Cuballing captain Joe Dowling said it was a tough match but Blevin’s century was a highlight of the day. “I think Byron’s 100 is as good as it gets so hats off to him,” he said. “It’s unfortunate for the Wandering boys, they’ve been such a good team. “But they can never take it away from you when you win one so it’s a great feeling. “It’s unreal.” Wandering opening batter and wicketkeeper Jacob Schorer said their challenge of the match was trying to remove Blevin. “We just couldn’t get that one guy out — we bowled pretty well, had a couple of chances and missed a couple of run outs, but we just couldn’t get his wicket,” he said. “It was disappointing in the end that we just couldn’t get it done.”