Hornets into final after stinging 74 by Potbury
A SEVENTY-four run innings by Brent Potbury was enough to see Ipswich Logan Hornets through to the final of the Plunkett Cup.
Potbury laid the base for Pioneers' win over Queensland Sub Districts along with a four-wicket haul from captain Paul Milne at Ivor Marsden Oval.
The Hornets will face Toowoomba on Sunday, February 3.
Milne said the win was set up by Potbury's innings and strong bowling across the board.
"Potbury really gave us a total that was defendable," he said.
"He held us together at the top."
Potbury really gave us a total that was defendable. He held us together at the top.
Potbury walked on to the pitch in the second over and saw the rest of the top order collapse around him with openers Justin Dawes and Mikey Wilson dismissed for four and three respectively.
It wasn't until Michael Topp came in at number nine that Potbury found someone to stay with.
Coming in at 7-85, the pair built the score to 150 before Topp was dismissed for 31.
Potbury was finally dismissed on the fifth ball of the 49th over.
The Sub Districts' chase got off to a wobbly start when Topp struck in the opening over, dismissing Mitchell Field for a duck.
But after claiming three wickets in the first seven overs, the Hornets struggled to dismiss the middle order.
Adam Smith finally broke through for the home side, dismissing Matt White, initiating a lower-order collapse.
Sub Districts lost seven wickets for 45 runs after being 3-79.
They were bowled out for 124, 44 runs short of the total set by Hornets.
After taking four wickets himself, Milne was quick to praise the entire bowling line-up.
"Toppy bowled really well with the fast ball," he said.
"He didn't get the results, but it was good new-ball bowling.
"It was a real team effort with the ball."
Milne said he was pleased with the effort the team put in to take the win.
"They got off to a decent start, then we took one wicket and it just snowballed."
"They got off to a decent start, then we took one wicket and it just snowballed."
Hornets coach Aaron Moore said qualifying for the final showed good signs for Ipswich cricket.
"This is a young team, so to have them do so well is great," he said.
"The idea of this is to build them up to get them to the next levels of cricket.
"It's good to have some older players in there like Paul (Milne) too to give them a bit of direction."
