Slow start costs City shot at title in annual carnival
A SLOW start on day one proved costly for Darling Downs and South-West City in the annual Schaeffer Shield tournament at Captain Cook Oval.
City finished second after suffering a three-wicket loss against eventual winners South East Queensland who went unbeaten to retain the shield.
Blake Anderson (47) and Jack Carty (42no) led the way as City managed 8-207 against the potent SEQ bowling attack spearheaded by Ben O'Connell (5-38).
But City failed to take the early wickets they needed to defend the meagre total as SEQ blasted its way to 7-319.
City captain Matt Dennis lamented the missed opportunity against SEQ.
"We were a bit slow to begin. We didn't really hit our line or length early with our bowling," he said.
"We only got 200 on the board so we needed to get a few early wickets which didn't happen."
City produced a much improved effort on Sunday to run out comfortable 139-run winners over Wide Bay with opener Chris Hall (101) scoring a superb century.
But it was tough all weekend for Darling Downs and South-West Country who finished fourth.
Country made a solid start against SEQ on Sunday through opener Nick Budden (52) but Chris Mitchell (4-38) was in fine touch and Country slumped to 9-200.
Country's James O'Donohue (1-32) had SEQ reeling at 1-11 in reply but it was only a minor speed bump as the defending champions cruised to a four-wicket victory.
SEQ has dominated the Schaeffer Shield for the past few summers and coach Craig Jesberg credited that success to a great team work ethic.
"That's four wins from four games for this group over two years, I think that says it all about this team," he said.
"We had a big opportunity on the first day to show what we could do and we grabbed that chance."
