Cabra-Vale Diggers Club are the BCiB NSW State No 5 Pennant Champions after defeating Molong 62-48 in the final.

When the final bowl was delivered on Monday morning, drawing to a close a hectic three days for players, officials and

spectators alike, members of the victorious Cabra-Vale side embraced each other

mid-green recognising the enormity of their feat.

Their joy was understandable given the fact their club had waited 46 years since their last state pennant title.

And while the Molong players were

naturally disappointed to have come so far only to fall at the final hurdle in their bid to claim a maiden flag, they had every reason to be proud in the fact they had reached the state final.

The two teams were the standouts over the course of the finals series, both going through their pool games undefeated.

Cabra-Vale survived an early scare on Saturday morning when they narrowly edged out Lake Cathie 61-57 before downing South Hurstville 63-47 and Milton Ulladulla 80-47 in their remaining round robin games.

Molong were even more emphatic with big margins of victories over fellow section two sides Harden (78-63), Harbord (99-44) and The Oaks (72-48).

Both teams went into their semi finals as favourites, Cabra-Vale eliminating Dapto Citizen’s 66-59, while Molong finished 20 shots in front of Woy Woy 77-57.

The four semi final teams were forced to endure the worst of the weather conditions, with the games suspended twice due to rain and completed under lights.

With more rain falling overnight, Monday morning’s final was delayed by an hour, Venue Controller Ian Vesperman giving the players the green light to commence play at 10am.

In the decider Cabra-Vale, who were the Zone 12 winners earlier in the year, were to be represented by Ching Li, Gregory Annesley, James Lucey and Stephen Smith (skip); Rick Staats, Brian Eddy, Darryl McKellar and James Winstanley (skip); and William Moorey, John Bowyer, Raymond Sebire and Robert Sajnovic (skip).

Molong’s teams consisted of Wal Whiteley, Toby Weekes, Kaleb Weekes and Robert Hamilton (skip), Kevin Beatty, Kevin Betts, Steven Shannon and Gus Weekes (skip) and Craig Troth, Rodney Bevan, Ned Kurta and Kevin Beatty (skip).