Zac Smith put on 120 runs for Coffeys in their semi-final against Berridale on Saturday.
Alpine Cricket Team Joel Smith, Adam Schofield, James Ewart, Mitch Clarke, Alex Moon and Jack Ewart with Charlie Allen and Nathan Boate in front.
The Cannons Cricket team Paul Cohen, Paul Crowley and Rowan Venables with Bob Smith and Mathew Crowley in front.
Jack Parkyn delivers a strong bowl for Berridale.
A commanding 120 run innings to Zach Smith against Berridale on Saturday secured Coffeys a spot in the 2013 Monaro District Cricket Association grand final. Coffeys will face last years premiers Jindabyne in a rematch of last year's grand final at Rotary Oval this Saturday.
Coffeys will be in good form after winning their semi-final against Berridale at Rotary on Saturday.
Winning the toss, Coffeys elected to bat surprising Berridale as the threat of afternoon rain looked highly likely and batting second in a rain effected match has its advantages.
Berridale got off to the perfect start with A. Walters (2/31) taking a wicket in just the third over.
With the early wicket, the batting pair of N. Moon (19) and Z. Smith (120) curtailed there normal attacking batting styles and were quite happy to wait for the bad ball. On five and the run rate starting to drop Smith went after Walters and smashed an on drive straight to short mid on where the catch was put down.
That was the last chance Smith gave for the next 30 odd overs as Smith dominated the Berridale attack while the Coffeys middle order stumbled around him. Andrew O'Keeffe (3/22) was the stand out bowler for Berridale and at one stage he had the imposing figures of 2/2 after six overs as the Coffeys batsmen struggled to get the ball off the square.
At 5/103 and with Smith batting with the tail a big score for Coffeys looked a long way off but as happens in quite a few matches for Berridale this year the fielding and bowling standards dropped.
Smith batted superbly with the tail with great support from J. Burns (19) and L. Schofield (12*) which helped guide Coffeys to a good score of 7/218. Smith fell to O'Keeffe on the very last ball of the innings.
As the skies darkened and the threat of rain feeling almost imminent the calculator was pulled out and the equation didn't seem all that difficult for Berridale.
If rain was to wash the match out after 15 overs Berridale would be required to score at a run rate of just 4.8 runs an over.
However, Coffeys got off to a flyer taking three early wickets with Summerville (2/18) and Tronerud (3/32) doing the damage.
A. O'Keeffe (43) and S. Freebody (11) restored the Berridale innings but under bad light batting became very difficult and the pair went into survival mode when Tronerud picked up his third wicket of the innings and with the score on 4/55 after 18 overs the match was now Coffeys match to lose. A. Walters (45) joined O'Keeffe and the pair instantly lifted the run rate with Walters playing some wonderful strokes. With the score on 4/128 after 32 overs Berridale was right back in the match. Z. Smith (2/36) who had been on the end of some serious hitting from Walters and O'Keeffe once again gave the game back to Coffeys dismissing O'Keeffe and M. Bruce with consecutive balls.
With the tail in Walters once again tried to lift the run rate but only succeeded in hitting a skied catch to R. Morgan in the deep off the bowling of M. Williams (2/24). L. Taylor (16) and J. Riley (25*) did well to give Berridale the slightest sniff of victory but with the loss of Taylor in the 39th over with Berridale needing more then 10 an over the match was lost. But staying true to the fighting style Berridale showed throughout the year they kept the Coffeys boys out in the field until the last ball.
In the other A Grade semi-final minor premiers Jindabyne were missing a few key players but still defeated Cooma Cats. In the B Grade grand final the Alpine easily defeated the Cooma Cannons in a lopsided match.
