February 15, 2016
The 2016 Goodchild Shield final ended in the rarest of results on Sunday in Kingaroy … a tie that will be remembered in local sporting circles for years.
The match between Kingaroy and Gympie was in the balance until the last ball with the South Burnett holding on against a brave fightback by the Gympie tail.
South Burnett batted first and were all out for 147 in the 49th over.
On a pitch that looked to favour the bowlers, opener Lehman Brunjes top-scored for the South Burnett with 51, including seven boundaries.
Ashley Sippel (21) and Troy Dennien (18) also added valuable runs.
Gympie bowler Dean Chandler did the early damage, taking the wickets of Brendan Weil and Nathan Bain for ducks. Chandler finished with 3/14, including five maidens, off his 10 overs.
In reply, Gympie started slowly and steadily with openers Graeme Bembrick (12) and Andy Batten (38) digging in for more than a hour before South Burnett bowlers Wayne Kelly and Tom Carney made the breakthrough.
With the openers gone to catches in consecutive overs, South Burnett’s spirits rose.
Gympie lost their next three wickets cheaply thanks to young spinner Tom Carney who finished with 4/29 off his 10 overs.
South Burnett almost looked home and hosed when Gympie was 9/117 with seven overs left.
But tailender Chris Hughes (32 not out) breathed life back into the visitors’ innings, hitting four boundaries in the dying stages, including a massive six over the fence in front of Bean Growers’ silos.
At the start of the 50th over, South Burnett still needed to get one wicket while Gympie needed 10 runs for victory.
When Mark Smith was bowled by Graham Brown for one run, Gympie was all out and the scores were locked at 147.
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South Burnett’s Wayne Kelly bowls Gympie captain Peter Kross for four
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