A stunning all-round performance by Tahir Afridi has helped Gisborne to a grand final appearance in the Gisborne and District Cricket Association’s McIntyre Cup.
Afridi, a standout in his first season with the club, shone with bat and ball in the weekend’s semi-final against Riddell.
On Saturday, Afridi and Dragons playing-coach Simon Harman rescued their innings with the score at 5-63.
Harman said the partnership came at a perfect time.
“We just had to bat sensibly and tick the scoreboard over,” he said.
The pair added 87 for the sixth wicket to take the score to 5-146.
Once Harman fell for 63, Afridi continued on, pushing the tally towards 200.
He fell for 86, which included 12 fours and three sixes, the Dragons’ innings ending not long after for 208.
“If you’d offered me 200 at the start of the day we would have taken it,” Harman said.
“It would have been nice to make a few more, but it was a good day.
Matthew Darby and Matt Livingstone took three wickets each for Riddell, which looked on track to make the runs with ease in the first half of its run chase. At one stage, it needed 98 runs with five wickets in hand.
“We had a couple of chances go down early in the field, which is unlike us,” Harman said,
“We had a brilliant run-out and that was crucial. After tea it went our way.
Enter Afridi, again.
Having already claimed two wickets, the medium-pacer took a hat-trick over two overs.
“It was absolutely exceptional from him,” Harman said. “He found something and bowled himself into the ground. With Clint Young hurting his calf, we were a bowler down so someone had to step up.
“I felt sorry for Tahir at the end of the day, bowling so many overs.
A Riddell fight-back took it to within 18 runs of victory.
“You start to think that maybe it wasn’t our day,” Harman said. “It got very close and I had a feeling we could get a chance – but we had to take it.”
Riddell was bowled out for 191, with Afridi taking 7-77 off 33.5 overs.
Gisborne’s previous grand final win came in B-grade in 2013-14 when it defeated Diggers Rest Bulla, its opponent again in this weekend’s decider.
It was a good weekend for the Dragons with their C-grade side, women’s team and three junior teams making it through to grand finals.
