UGSCA 2025-26: Brock Francis hits 109 and takes seven wickets as Cuballing make sure of double finals chance

Brock Francis hit an unbeaten 109 and took 7-8 in an extraordinary spell with the ball to put Towns to the sword, as Cuballing made sure of a double-chance finals spot. His one-man effort in Saturday’s Upper Great Southern Cricket Association contest inflicted a 139-run thrashing on the home side and ensured Cuballing pipped Lake Grace to second spot on the ladder and earned a qualifying final contest at Wandering this Saturday, March 7. Lake Grace, who slipped to third after being dusted down by leaders Wandering, will host Williams in the elimination final. While Wandering finished the regular season well clear on 40 points, the three sides that followed all bagged 32 points and could be split only on quotient. Williams’ walloping of Wickepin-Harrismith was not quite enough to see them finish higher than fourth. With finals in mind Cuballing wanted to rack up as big a score as possible against Towns and opted to bat – but were soon 4-41. Kendall Ballard was on 10 when he mistimed his massive swing off Jagtar Singh’s bowling and saw his sky-high swipe land safely in the hands of Bradley Timms. Andrew Harris had looked comfortable, but Ballard had hardly reached the pavilion when he was dispatched after hitting straight to Lewis Hardie off Harnek Singh for 10. Byron Blevin was removed for five and when Joe Dowling was out for a duck, another victim of Jagtar, the visitors were unexpectedly in a bit of a struggle. Enter Francis, who is regularly prolific having bashed 80 and 78 in previous meetings with Towns this season. The home side might have feared the worst and Francis delivered, his 109 coming off 92 balls and including six sixes. He had a worthy partner in Rhett Ballard who kept him company for 32 runs and 69 balls until he was caught by Lewis Hardie off Taj Satie. That left Kieran Langridge to add 14 and see out the overs at 5-203. Towns never came close as Francis played skittles with their wickets. Perrin Quartermaine (17) showed some resistance, surviving 30 balls, but Francis got to work, removing the top four, all to catches. Damon Watt then picked off Thomas Mackay before Francis set about the middle order, claiming three more scalps, before letting Kieran Langridge have his moment with the final two, as Towns finish all out for 64. Wandering set Lake Grace the target of bettering 6-211 as a solid start from Jacob Schorer (23) and Blake Egerton-Warburton (37) was topped up by Ben McMillan’s unbeaten 71. Troy Egerton-Warburton hit 27 off 13 balls and then left McMillan and Bailey Parsons (20no) to finish off their 45 overs. Lake Grace started well, Matthew Trevenen (26) and Ben Donohue (19) scoring at a run a ball but after they departed the rate slowed and Jordan Hughes, with 3-13, put the brakes on. Mitch Smith produced a decent knock of 28 but Lake Grace’s response petered out on 122 in 40 overs to give Wandering an eight-wicket win. Wickepin-Harrismith elected to bat away at Williams, managing to reach 9-112 thanks to a middle-order knock of 24 from Dane Angwin. An unbeaten 53 from Robert Rose was the core of the Williams reply with Michael Cowcher (19), Riley Ford (23) and Cooper Ford, unbeaten on 10, finishing the job at 2-113. Wickepin-Harrismith finished the regular season bottom of the ladder without a win, while Towns picked up eight points from two victories to finish second-bottom and miss out on finals.