As the Workers Stags had already progressed through to the final due to their win over Crookwell last weekend, Saturday kicked off with a match between Hibo Gold and Hibo Green to decide who would be the second team through. 

After winning the toss and batting first, Gold were not able to make good use of their batting depth, and a strong Green bowling attack restricted them to 4-126. 

In reply, Green got off to a rollicking start thanks to a 57-run partnership between Francis McAlister (44) and Jordan Lees (26), which contained some monstrous hitting. 

The pair took Green to 2-84 before Lees was caught on the straight boundary and was replaced by Luke Hayward, whose 34 not out guided his side to victory. 

The second match, which began at 3.00pm, was a low-scoring one, which saw Green in serious trouble after electing to bat first against the Stags.

Having fallen to 9-108 in their first innings, Green had good reason to be nervous, particularly against a Stags side which demolished a chase of 159 against Crookwell last weekend. 

However, Green captain Dane Stevenson said that he was always confident that his side could close out the game. 

“I actually said to the fellas when we came off, ‘108’s gonna be way too many for them’,” he said.

“We just had a basic field, and we tried to bowl full and straight and keep away from the batter’s strengths, and they did a good job.” 

And Stevenson’s confidence quickly proved assured, as Hibo’s restrictive bowling left the Stags nearly 20 runs short. 

It was a victory that will not only live in memory of the Hibo Green side, but will also give the very young team multitudes of confidence as the players mature. 

“I’m really happy for these guys,” Stevenson said. 

“Last year, we had a huge year and went through undefeated and went down in straight sets [in the finals], and that hurt a lot, so I’m really, really proud and stoked for these guys.”