Sam Scuderi Medal 2024: North Queensland cricketer Shaun Curnow stands among district’s greatest ever players

Curnow, the 2011/12 and 2019/20 Scuderi medallist, clinched his hat-trick of most valuable player titles at the Townsville Cricket Awards on Wednesday.

Only Saints legend Matt Burton (five) has won more since the award was renamed in honour of Scuderi, revered as the ‘Bradman of the Bush,’ in 2003.

Catching Burton would be a superhuman achievement but Curnow knows he has enough cricket left in him to try his luck.

“Honestly I don’t think I’ll get there,” Curnow said.

“He (Burton) was a very good cricketer in Townsville before he left. It would be huge if I could get that far but I don’t think I’ll get anywhere near it.

“I’m 33 years old but I’m not ready to retire, there’s still a couple more seasons in me. I’ve lost too many premierships, so I need to try and win a few more.”

Curnow will have his chance to add to his tally on Saturday because Wests hold a 1-0 lead over Brothers in a best-of-three grand final series.

Curnow was a member of Wests’ last grand final winning teams in 2022 and 2013 but can draw upon the heartbreak of four grand final defeats in the years between them to ensure his focus is razor sharp for the season’s conclusion.

Curnow was a key reason why his club has reached the big dance.

The all-rounder proved a rock atop the batting line-up, scoring 304 runs at an average of 38 to finish fifth in the runs aggregate race.

He enjoyed his best bowling season in five years, claiming the third most wickets in the district (16) at an average of 13.56 and collecting career-best bowling figures of 7-28 along the way.

“It’s always good to get recognised for these kinds of trophies,” Curnow said.

“Sam Lowry was just behind me and he’s probably the best cricketer in town so it was great to beat him.”

WESTS TAKE EARLY LEAD IN TOWNSVILLE CRICKET GRAND FINAL

- Patrick Woods, March 19

Western Suburbs took an early lead in the three-game grand final series of Townsville Cricket’s A Grade, stunning the Brothers batsmen with a lethal bowling attack on Sunday to claim game 1.

The Magpies kept 10 of Brothers’ best to single digit runs as they quickly put an end to the ambitious run chase.

Only opener Hayden Searle gave the Fish a glimmer of hope with 32 runs off 45 balls.

Wests were shaky with the bat as they opened the batting in the decider, succumbing to 4-48 before Sam Lowry dug his heels in.

Lowry batted for most of the innings, finally being caught on 93 on the third-last ball of the 50th over to give his side a defendable 9-186 total.

Wests all-rounder Lachlan Ford said it was an impressive return to form at a handy point in the season.

“That’s as good as I’ve seen him bat for a long, long time – he was just really composed,” Ford said.

“When he got to 50 he started to put the foot down and made his way to 80 or 90 before he knew it.”

Ford said his side had hatched a plan to attack the Brothers batters early and the scheme paid dividends.

“It was quite a hard wicket to start on so we did talk about the first 20 balls of all batters’ innings to try and be really up and about, whether that was in the field or with the energy we were bringing,” Ford revealed.

“I dare say most of their batters were dismissed in that 15 to 30 ball range.”

Ford’s feeling proved true with only three Brothers players facing 30 or more balls.

Despite the 101-run triumph Ford said it was a tough contest and his team was expecting a hard fight to claim the series.

“It was a closer contest than what the score probably suggests,” Ford said.

“I think 101 runs doesn’t do quite the justice of how Brothers played, they actually played some really good cricket. We just had a bit of a decent day out with our bowling and our fielding, and it was just one of those days where things went right for us.

“Knowing Brothers they could easily come out and score 220 like they did (on Saturday).

“If you look at their line-up they’ve got game-winners from one through to 11 so they have a very strong line-up and we’re expecting a tight battle on Saturday and possibly Sunday as well.”

Game 2 of the A Grade grand final will be at Riverway Stadium at 10am on Saturday, March 23, with a game 3 decider pencilled in for Sunday if required.

BROTHERS SURVIVE DUCKWORTH-LEWIS SEMI-FINAL AGAINST NORTHS

- Nic Darveniza, March 18 2024

A magnificent Cooper Guest century delivered Brothers into back-to-back Townsville Cricket grand finals after thwarting Norths’ would-be drought-breakers for the second year in a row in a Duckworth-Lewis heartbreaker.

Norths’ quest for its breakthrough first grade premiership will stretch into a 48th season after a rain-affected semi-final left No.10 Ryan McCarron and No.11 Zack Adami requiring 10 runs from the final over to save their season from extinction.

That equation was reduced to six to win from the final ball, and although McCarron found the boundary rope for four, he could not clear the fence for victory.

It was a semi-final date with destiny that should never have been left in the tailenders’ hands after Norths lost five wickets for 37 runs to close out the second innings.

Norths gambled on sending Brothers in to bat after winning the coin toss and were punished for it by failing to remove Cooper Guest.

The rookie Brothers skipper faced the first ball of the day and did not return until the end of the innings, bringing up his 100 with three balls to spare and his side holding an iron grip on the semi-final.

Only once this season had a team successfully chased down 200-plus in the second innings in Townsville and never more than the 221 Brothers amassed, for the loss of just three wickets.

Townsville’s leading runscorer Hayden Searle was bowled out for 11 in the fifth over but No.3 Sam Jarrett settled in for the long haul alongside Guest, bringing up a half-century of his as Brothers dominated the opening hours.

A minor breakthrough threatened to bring Norths back into contention when Jarrett was caught behind by returning quick Sam Collingwood for 52.

Jamie Heit followed him back to the shed for two and the prospect of a collapse was on.

Brendan Haylett squashed that notion with an up-tempo 47 not-out to help Brothers soar past the milestone 200 at Riverway Stadium, heaping pressure on Norths to fulfil its premiership destiny.

Rain restricted Norths to 33 overs with the bat and a target of 168 for victory.

Veterans Gareth Sim and Chris Stanger posted half-centuries each after falling behind 2-22.

Their dismissals left Norths to chase 46 runs from 10 overs with six wickets in hand.

Norths lost five of them for 37, leaving their young tail to try to pull the fixture from the flames.

SAM COLLINGWOOD RETURNS TO LEAD NORTHS’ FINALS CHARGE

- Nic Darveniza, March 16

By plane, train or automobile, Sam Collingwood is returning to Townsville with single-minded determination to deliver his beloved Norths the ultimate parting gift of a premiership 48 years in the making.

Norths’ favourite son drove four hours from Bundaberg to Brisbane to catch his connecting flight to Townsville on Friday evening, covering nearly 2000km for his semi-final date with destiny against Brothers.

Collingwood’s heart was broken when a teaching opportunity in Wide Bay tore him away from his swan song 12th season at Norths after the Christmas break.

Having fought back from two potentially career-ending knee injuries, Collingwood was adamant he would not miss his final chance to win a premiership for the only club he has known as a senior.

That burning desire to raise Norths’ first trophy since the summer of 1976/77 has sparked Collingwood’s cross-country journey to charge in from Riverway Stadium’s back fence on Saturday.

That the semi-final is against Brothers, the team that twisted Norths’ fairytale unbeaten season into a grand final horror movie last year, has only poured fuel on Collingwood’s fire.

“It’s not just important to me, it’s important to the club,” Collingwood said of his motivation to return to Townsville for the finals.

“Recent history hasn’t gone our way and we all know how long it has been (since 1976/77). To hopefully get us across the line this weekend was not just important to me but important to the club because it has been a long drought.

“Anything to get us across the line and help us, I’m happy to do it.”

Collingwood has postponed his retirement from cricket by linking with a local club in Bundaberg to keep his bowling razor sharp in preparation for Townsville’s finals.

This one-day semi-final could be the last match one of Townsville’s greatest pacemen ever plays but a three-match grand final series against Wests lays in wait for whichever team can prevail Saturday.

“Knowing it will be my last game or games for Norths, it would definitely be a bit of a fairytale to finish it off with the silverware,” Collingwood said.

“It should be a really good weekend. You probably couldn’t write a better story and it is exciting for sure.”

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Last season Brothers made Norths pay the ultimate sporting price for a wicked run of bye rounds and washouts that conspired to deny the undefeated Redmen any momentum leading into the final.

This season has proven a near mirror image, with Norths playing just two matches in two months before the finals.

Collingwood is so certain his team has learned from the mistakes of 2022/23 that he has already booked return flights to Townsville next weekend to take part in the second and third games of the grand final series, should Norths survive its finals rematch against Brothers.

Originally published as Sam Scuderi Medal 2024: North Queensland cricketer Shaun Curnow stands among district’s greatest ever players