NDJCA 12s and 14s teams win in Gunnedah

The Narrabri District Junior Cricket Association’s under-12s and under-14s teams both won their respective matches in Gunnedah on Sunday.

It was the second straight win for both Narrabri’s Ross Panton Cup (under-12s) and Tim Grosser Cup (under-14s) teams in their respective competitions.

The under-12s downed the hosts by four wickets while the under-14s scored a huge 163-run win.

The NDJCA provided The Courier with match reports from both games.

They are as follows:

Under-12’s:

The 12s travelled to Gunnedah, lost the toss and were sent out to field.

Narrabri got off to a cracking start with opening bowlers Will Clarke and Lachlan Mason sending some screamers down the slightly damp pitch.

Will picked up the first wicket on his fifth ball and ended up with very respectable figures of 1-8 off four overs.

Lachlan also accrued outstanding figures of 1-2 off three which included two maidens.

The pressure was kept on Gunnedah with Ali Asad and Gabriel O’Connor combining in the attack with Ali 0-3 off two with a maiden, and Gabriel picking up one wicket with a nice catch from Blake Fielder.

Gabriel ended up with 1-1 off two overs with and he also managed a maiden over.

Next came a terrific runout from Brock Allen and Gunnedah was in trouble at 4-9 off eight overs.

The Narrabri boys continued to apply pressure bringing on Jakson Dowdell and Kyne Allen.

Jakson finished with 0-4 off two overs and Kyne 0-9 off two.

Narrabri’s next wicket came from a brilliant piece of fielding from Kyne with a direct hit to remove Gunnedah’s top player.

Narrabri now had its opponents at 6-35 off 17, which was a reward for great pressure in the field and from the young bowlers.

Blake Fielder and Ahsan Ashad bowled very well and both struck with a wicket each and put Narrabri in a strong position at the 20-over change, with Gunnedah struggling at 7-45.

With this target in mind, Narrabri knew it was in a strong position and sent Brock and Kyne Allen in to open the batting.

Brock was the first to go, first ball to a great catch which made the score 1-0.

George Barton came in first drop, and after a shaky start, combined well with Kyne for a 21-run partnership.

These two batsmen also displayed improved running between the wickets before Kyne was trapped in front leaving the wicket on three runs.

Ashley Finlay was the next to go after dragging one back onto his stumps and Narrabri was feeling an urgency at 3-25.

This brought Gabriel to the crease to partner George and both boys managed to steady the ship with a 31-run partnership, before George was dismissed for a top score of 25.

Finally Narrabri found itself in a strong position of 4-56 off 11.

This was to be challenged again by Gunnedah as Narrabri lost another two wickets with Gabriel out for a handy 11 runs and Lachlan for four.

The score became 6-82 off 20 overs.

With a 37-run lead and only needing three more wickets, Narrabri’s under-12s finished the job after lunch with George  picking up two wickets and finishing with 2-5 off three overs and Ashley also picking up a wicket and finishing on 1-3 off one over.

Narrabri won the game with Gunnedah all out for 63.

George picked up the man-of-the-match and Lachlan took the game ball award. 

Coaches Mick Dowdell and Luke Barton made special mention of the ongoing improvement in the boys each week with great fielding, bowling and quick running between the wickets.

Under-14s:

The NDJCA under-14s intertown side was unlucky to lose the coin toss, however, Gunnedah sent Narrabri in to bat while spectators set up for a cool morning of cricket.

While the relief of fresh weather was short-lived, the batters relished the balmy conditions and turned on quite an impressive attack with the willow.

The batting partnership of Bernard O’Connor and Jackie Collett was short-lived with Jackie being bowled by a sharp turning ball for four runs off 13 balls.

Bernard marked his crease and eyeballed Sidney Harvey who quickly sent two boundaries off his first two balls.

After some very quick running between the wickets, Sid’s reign was also halted by a cracking ball sent head height, caught for 13.

Noah Mace had remained unrattled and very focused prior to advancing the pitch, and his first ball showed some pace across the damp field.

Although he looked good early, he too was caught for one.

Alistair Wheeler then casually made his way out to join Bernard and put his head down, quickly going to work.

He made clever use of the gaps in the field and called Bernard on to make quick singles and twos at every opportunity.

Bernard also sent back the running challenge, communicating seamlessly with Alistair and creating a flow of runs.

Both boys had the privilege of raising their bat at 50, with Bernard finally being caught out on 66 and Alistair being bowled short of a ton on 88.

Congratulations must go to these gentlemen as both shook the bowlers hand before departing.

Clay Hoffman was unlucky to be run out on 19 as he too showed master strokes with the bat, placing the ball for handy singles and some impressive boundaries.

Jonty Fowler was man of the match-and rightly so – as the scorers noted his impressive figures with batting and bowling.

This big hitter enjoyed the challenge laid down from the Gunnedah bowlers, scoring a rapid 31 runs off very few balls.

Tallen Robinson was run out on one while Lachlan Ford (7) came out strong and steady with his bat and was run out in a close call.

Lucas Hogan showed great focus and produced an unbeaten score of seven very valuable runs.

Last to bat was Sanchit Jagadeesan who rounded out the 290-run total with his three.

The team replenished and rehydrated and wasted no time in getting to the field, urging Gunnedah to take the pitch.

The bowling showed mixed results and patience was necessary as the middle order wickets took a while to fall with Gunnedah’s top batsmen scoring 54 and 47 against Narrabri.

Alistair bowled a total of 0-4 off five overs, Sanchit was consistently good with 2-1 off four overs, Tallen’s persistence paid off with 1-20 off five overs.

Lucas  (0-23 off five overs), Lachlan  (0-26 from four overs), Jackie  (0-18 off three overs), Noah  (0-24 off two overs) and Sidney (0-2 from two overs) also rolled the arms over.

The field was perfectly placed by all bowlers and encouraged by captain Sidney as Gunnedah wickets were all caught or run out (bar two – LBW and bowled).

Credit must go to Jonty Fowler who took a magnificent 4-4 off 4.1 overs.

This young cricketer managed to get an LBW, bowled the stumps and produced two catches for Sidney.

Bernard also combined with Sidney (wicketkeeper) to run out the opening batsman, while Sidney also took an additional three catches.

Congratulations to the team for all your hard work and cohesive cricket on the day.

Your will to win and play your best cricket is a credit to you all.