Belmont District Cricket Club Grand Finalists 2020/2021
Belmont District Cricket Club | May 23, 2025
Due to a finals not being played in the 2019/20 season as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns, there was much anticipation around the 2020/21 NDCA season.
Belmont entered the season with two notable inclusions into the 1st grade squad. Two teenagers, opening batsman Joey Gillard and fast bowler Luke Muddle, were keen to show what they were made of, heading into the 2020/21 season.
Belmont started the season slowly, winning 2 from their opening 5 one-day games, but as the season progressed into the 2-day competition, they came into their own.
Belmont began their 2-day campaign with an outright win against Cardiff, winning by an innings and 3 runs, which featured a 69 from Zane Pearce and a 50 from Dan Bailey. Belmont declared 9-186 in response to Cardiff's score of 111. Belmont proceeded to take outright victory after bowling Cardiff out for 111 once again. Dan Bailey and Luke Muddle both took 4 wickets to guide Belmont home.
In the following round, Belmont would come up against eventual semi-final opponents Stockton, in which Belmont would take yet another outright victory by an innings and 33 runs. After a rocky start with the bat, Belmont's lower order featuring Jace Lawson and Jamie Heath (who had just returned to the club) put on a sizeable partnership with Lawson scoring 48 and Heath scoring 39. This helped Belmont to an unlikely score of 195. Jace Lawson backed up his 48 with the bat when he took the new ball and took 3 wickets alongside Alex Cook (3 wickets), Luke Muddle (1 wickets), Dom Symonds (1 wicket), and Dan Bailey (2 wickets) leaving Stockton all out for 70 and 125 behind going into the second innings. Jace Lawson again tore through the Stockton top order, taking Keith Moody, Jake Hainsworth and Nick Foster in his first few overs. Stockton couldn't keep up with Belmont's relentless bowling attack, and they finished all out for 92.
Belmont went on to secure 2 more victories throughout the season against University and Waratah to finish 2nd on the table, with a rematch against Stockton waiting for them. However, due to the weather, Stockton would have to wait for their turn to come around again as the game was abandoned and Belmont moved on to the Grand Final against Wests.
Belmont were sent into bat and very quickly found themselves in trouble after losing their first 4 wickets for 17 runs. Half of the batters had been dismissed when a young Joey Gillard stepped to the crease. The West's attack had been relentless all day, but this didn't concern Joey. He held out a raging Joey Price and Bradley Aldous as he finished 31 not out off 180 balls. Jace Lawson contributed again in the lower order, scoring a much-needed 37 off 128 as the pair guided Belmont to a score of 107 all out. Belmont walked out to the field well and truly on the ropes against a team that had beaten them convincingly earlier in the season. But they knew they had a job to do. Jace Lawson quickly proved again why he was one of the best bowlers in the NDCA as he took 3-23. Dan Bailey rattled West's middle order with 4-45, and Ray Cooper kept things tidy through the middle overs with 1-37, but in the end it wasn't enough. Wests chased the runs down, finishing at 9-108, defeating what was a very gutsy Belmont side that fought to the very end.
