The long-awaited Tarana versus O'Connell cricket match took place on Saturday, February 19 and resulted in a thrilling, last ball win to Tarana by a margin of a single run.
Rain in 2020 and COVID-19 in 2021 meant that Saturday's match was the first since 2019 and accordingly a large, eager crowd turned out to watch, with the rain thankfully holding off.
Advertisement
The match was played at the Tarana Village Recreation Ground which has recently been revamped by the tireless efforts of Mr Greg Dargan and the Tarana Valley Community Group. The ground has been transformed into a beautiful facility which will no doubt be of use to the community for many years to come.
The Tarana Cricket Club and the Tarana community are most grateful for their efforts, which paid off handsomely on Saturday. Ian Bailey is also to be congratulated for his efforts in maintaining the ground and providing other technical expertise.
The match itself was played in a 20-20 format with Tarana batting first and making 122 runs, with Bruce Webb top scoring for Tarana with 25 runs and subsequently retiring in accordance with the rules of the match.
O'Connell looked to have the upper hand midway through their innings but determined fielding and accurate bowling from Rob Webb, Pat Bird, John Jeffreson and Glen Joseph of the Tarana team, among others, saw the match come down to the last ball; with no run scored Tarana ended up winning by a single run, reversing O'Connell's win in 2019.
Brett Radburn was unanimously voted man of the match for his wicketkeeping heroics for Tarana.
According to newspaper articles, cricket has been played in Tarana since at least 1881 and it did not escape the notice of local history buffs in the crowd that those newspaper reports contained some of the same names as players participating on Saturday, most notably from the Webb family.
Several father and son pairings took to the crease over the course of the match including Pat and Paddy Bird for Tarana and John Condon and sons for O'Connell.
It was agreed among players and spectators that the result, while exciting, was entirely immaterial compared to the sheer joy of seeing the community come together for a great day out after the hardships and isolation of the pandemic.
All involved are already looking forward to next year's match, and it is also proposed that mixed matches will take place later this year.
Thanks are due to Gerard Hogan, Mario Cristofoleti and Bruce Marmion, without whose tireless advocacy and organisation the match might never have taken place.
