Broadford has won the 2024 Johnstone Shield in a fairytale debut Gisborne and District Cricket Association, GDCA, season.
Hosting Wallan for the weekend’s two-day grand final, Broadford put on one of its best all-round performances of the season when it mattered most to secure the victory with six overs to spare.
Wallan elected to bat first on Saturday and sent Matthew Clayton and Spencer Whittingham to the crease, the former putting on 32 runs and the latter ending as Wallan’s leading runscorer with 85.
Broadford, however – whose strongest quality this season was its bowling and fielding – put on a clinic as Braden Hickey took a massive six wickets supported by multiple catches throughout the innings.
At the end of 75 overs, Broadford had left itself a chase of 226, and when play resumed on Sunday it hit the ground running as openers Mitchell Collier and Joshua Nolan each contributed 29 runs.

James Ingham made his presence known as the fourth batsman in Broadford’s ranks, making two sixes to match Whittingham’s 85 runs to lead his side’s chase – supported by a strong 22 from Braden Hickey.
Broadford veteran Ash Wood came on late in the innings but produced an unbeaten 40, even making the final four of the season to put his side over the line 6/227 to 9/225.

Coach and co-captain Gareth Sharp said he was proud to have secured the win.
“It’s always good having someone who’s as experienced as Ash Wood, he’s such a great cricketer and he came in at six for us and finished the game off for us when there are a lot of nerves,” he said.
“All in all, it was a fantastic game of cricket, Wallan played really well and they did all season, but thankfully we were able to come out on top.”

Sharp said Broadford did not know what to expect from its first season in the GDCA, however it was ‘never a bad year’ to win the flag on the first attempt.
“We knew what we were about and the quality we have in our side, but we weren’t sure about what everyone else had,” he said.
“To be able to secure a promotion to [the McIntyre Cup] in your first year is a really good accomplishment for the club. We’ve got a few young kids coming through that will gain a lot of experience from this season, and they’ll be the future.”
Sharp said Broadford still had a lot of room to improve for the premier division next season but was excited and keen for the challenge.
McIntyre Cup
The final GDCA match of the season is set to be a thriller as undefeated McIntyre Cup giants Romsey and Gisborne face off for this weekend’s grand final.
Romsey defeated the Sunbury Kangaroos 7/325 to 10/300 at the weekend in a reasonably close match, with Corey Day, captain Ben Way, and Taylor Stevenson among the top performers both with the bat and on the field.
Gisborne, meanwhile, defeated Sunbury United 10/236 to 10/169 in a convincing performance headed by 113 from captain Jarryd Vernon and five wickets from Leigh Brennan.
The final will kick off at 1pm on Saturday at Macedon’s Tony Clarke Recreation Reserve.
In the seconds competition Romsey came up short in its grand final against Sunbury United, going down 10/161 to 10/163 with three overs the difference.
Matthew Hoyt led the way with an unbeaten 49 for the Redbacks, however the sides proved to be closely matched with strong all-round performances across both line-ups.