GSCA 2025-26: Broomehill’s hopes of five-peat are in fine fettle as Hinchcliffe puts Kendenup to the sword

Broomehill’s dreams of a Great Southern Cricket Association five-peat remain alive and kicking after they overwhelmed Kendenup on Saturday to reach Saturday’s grand final. The showpiece hosts will have the odds firmly in their favour after hammering Kendenup by eight wickets in the qualifying final. In Saturday’s other match, Kojunup’s season came to an end thanks to an equally comprehensive hammering by Tambellup in the elimination final. It was a day for the bowlers across both matches as David Hinchcliffe took 5-9 to skittle out Kendenup while Nathan Willmott conducted a one-man demolition of Kojonup with 7-16, plus two catches in the field. Kendenup won the toss and decided to bat against the Bandicoots, a decision they must have regretted once Hinchcliffe got rolling. After Darcy Roberts and Seb Ballard had made a decent start, Hinchcliffe got in on the action, removing Kendenup’s top three and taking them from 0-60 to 3-73. That soon became 4-73, when Ryan Pope was caught by Max Jordison off Lewis Barritt, and then a calamitous 5-73 when Hinchcliffe bagged his fourth of the day when removing Justin Rose. Jack Horrocks stemmed the bleeding with a hard-fought 14 and he outlasted Bradley Scherell who managed one run off 13 balls until he was dispatched by Hinchcliffe. That put Kendenup at 7-96 off 30 overs but with only their eight registered players allowed to bat, Horrocks’ demise brought the innings to a close with Beau Sobey left at the crease on five. The Bandicoots wasted no time with their response as Jack Batchelor and Max Jordison put on 54 for the first wicket which came when Batchelor was caught by Scherell off Jakob Douglas. James Barritt made 20 off 19 balls before succumbing to a Sobey catch off Scherell so it was left to Mac Crichton to come in for one ball, off which he hit the winning four to take the Bandicoots to 2-97 in just 15 overs. In the elimination final at Tambellup, Kojonup opted to bat first and somehow lasted 20 overs without a single player reaching double figures. Jacob Johnson produced their best effort of nine with the bat, but the day belonged to Willmott whose seven wickets blew the Cougars away. Bayley Drew picked up 2-11 to help Tambellup along as the Cougars folded and were all out for 46. Tambellup cracked on and reached 0-47 for a 10-wicket win, Flynn Cristinelli (27) and Jedd Herbert (15) proving untroubled in the chase that lasted 9.3 overs to set up Sunday’s preliminary final against Kendenup.