This weekend's South West Slopes Cricket League 2025/26 cricket grand finals will be heavily dominated by Young with teams across the Under 13s, Under 16s and Open Mixed grades playing for the trophy. In the Under 13s age group, both the Young Renegades and the Young Strikers claimed wins in their semi finals match on Saturday, 7 March and will be meeting each other of the grand final at the Oval in Temora this Saturday, 14 March. To get to this stage, the Young Renegades (2/137) defeated the Col Gerhard Colts (5/133) during their matchup last weekend. The Renegades won the toss and elected to bowl first, where they were able to limit the Colts to 133 runs in thirty overs. Best for the Renegades' bowlers was Henry Parkman who claimed three wickets across six overs, with Jake Apps and Justin Vautin each claiming a wicket. Justin also caught a ball as a fielder. Following this, the Renegades had a strong innings at the bat, chasing down the Colts score across 17.4 overs. Best for the Renegades' batters was Tyson Schofield who retired not out with 47 runs. The rest of the Renegades batting line up put in strong results as well with Justin Vautin (retired not out) claiming 18 runs in a successful opening partnership with Bentley Quinn who claimed 31 runs. Henry Parkman rounded out the scoreboard with 31 runs. The Young Strikers (5/67) had a closer run affair when they came up against Ariah Park Redbacks (7/66) during their semi finals match. The Strikers won the toss and elected to bowl, where they kept the Redbacks' score low with three bowlers each claiming two wickets. Edward Shipp, Hugh Findlay and Pippa Findlay each claimed tow wickets, with Riley Barron claiming another wicket. Pippa Findlay and Elliott Palmer each caught a ball as fielder. Moving to batting, the Strikers faced some strong fielding by the Redbacks who also managed to keep the Strikers score low. The Strikers were able to outdo the Redbacks score, claiming the result of 5/67 in 22.5 overs. In the Under 16s age group the Under 16 Cruisers (5/113) secured their spot in this weekend's grand final match by defeating the Temora Scorchers 10/96 during their semi final match up on Saturday, 7 March. The Cruisers won the toss and elected to bat first. Despite a slow start with two ducks, the Cruisers rallied and managed to put 5/113 on the scoreboard within the 30 overs. Best at the stumps for the Cruisers were Aidan Mesa with 33 runs and Ryder Dovern with 37 runs. When Temora went to bat, the Cruisers aimed to keep their runs low, conceding only 5 runs from the first four batters. The Cruisers kept the pressure up and were able to end Temora's run with 10/96 on the scoreboard in 29.4 overs. Best for the Cruisers bowlers was Aidan Mesa with four wickets. Jayden Duggan claimed two wickets, while Ryder Dovern, Braith Anderson and Dakota Bourke each claimed a wicket. Amongst the fielders Brydie Davis, Jack Shea, Liam Payne and Dakota Bourke each had a catch as a fielder while Braith Anderson had a catch as a wicket keeper. The Cruisers will take on the Cootamundra Kookaburras at this Saturday's grand final hosted in Temora. In the Seniors Mixed Opens, the Burrangong Cubs and Criterion Bin Chickens each managed to win their respective semi finals matches to qualify for this weekend's grand finals. Burrangong will be taking on the Cootamundra Bulls in the B Grade Grand Finals while the Criterion Bin Chickens will be taking on the Temora Leprechauns in the C Grade Finals. Burrangong secured their spot in the Grand Finals with their win over the Temora Renegades in the qualifying finals on 28 February. The Criterion Bin Chickens )9/89) secured their spot in the B Grade Finals during last week's preliminary finals against the Harden Hornets (10/88) in a close match. The Criterion Bin Chickens won the toss and elected to bowl, and managed to keep the score under 100 runs, eventually finishing Harden's time at the stumps in 26.3 Overs. Best for the Bin Chicken's bowlers was Jacob Dodge who claimed 4 wickets as a bowler and two catches as a fielder. Declan Hurcum also claimed three wickets as a bowler. When they went to bat, the Criterion Bin Chickens were able to draw out the runs they needed to win across 32.3 overs, with many of their batters hitting in the single digits to keep the pressure up. Best for Criterion's batters was Declan Hurcum with 32 runs.
