Clifford At Ease After Snatching Minor Title

Newcastle Herald

Friday February 18, 2005

Graig Kerry - Up the Valley

ABERDEEN captain Ricky Clifford will be able to relax tomorrow during the final round of Muswellbrook cricket after his side secured the minor premiership last week.

Clifford and Grant Lloyd are on holiday and will miss the game against Workers at Harrison Oval.

Aberdeen downed Denman by 30 runs at Denman Oval last week to clinch the minor title.

They moved to 42 points, six clear of Denman, who will play them in next week's major semi-final.

Aberdeen have been the surprise packets of the competition, leading at several stages before finishing strongly despite the loss of key players.

"It's amazing considering we've been without Glen [Hamilton] for the last six weeks and David [Thwaites] since before Christmas," Clifford said of his side's solid form.

"I thought we'd struggle but all the games we've been close, we seem to get across the line. It's filled us with a lot of confidence."

Thwaites was averaging 60 with the bat and 19 with the ball until torn knee ligaments ended his season before the halfway mark. Hamilton, another top all-rounder, has been training to secure his pilot's licence but will return tomorrow.

Last week, Andrew Hill (62) and Dale Fittock (61) starred in Aberdeen's 202.

Al Murphy (4-33) was Denman's best.

Aberdeen's 15-year-old quick Marcus Christensen (3-31) and Clifford (3-48) restricted Denman to 172 after John Apps hit 40 and Gary Latham made 37.

Workers beat Valley Souths at Weeraman Oval for a fourth straight win in a preview of next week's minor semi-final and were led by Rod Nyman (48) and Chris Merrick (45).

Valley, who play Denman at Victoria Park tomorrow, scored 135.

Workers passed the mark four wickets down.

© 2005 Newcastle Herald

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