Narrabri District XI v Tamworth XI, War Vets Cup, Sunday, December 15 – Collins Park, 10am

Narrabri’s grand final team: Lachlan Cameron (c), Cooper Brayshaw, Jake Brayshaw, Jay Hall, Justin Knight, Jade Lees, Luke Meppem, Steve Phelps, Chris Sargent, Nick Smart, Nick Tomlinson, Nathan Trindall. Unavailable – Dylan Smith (representing Central North at the CCNSW McDonald’s Country Colts tournament in Bathurst), Ryan O’Neill (injured).

Narrabri’s road to the War Vets Cup grand final: October 20 – defeated Tamworth in round one away from home by four wickets after chasing down 139 runs; November 10 – defeated Inverell in round two away from home by five runs after defending 233 runs, December 8 – defeated Gunnedah in round three at home by 25 runs after defending 178 runs.

Narrabri’s War Vets Cup squad (players used this season): Lachlan Cameron (c), Ty Baker, Cooper Brayshaw, Jake Brayshaw, Hamish Duncan, Jay Hall, Daniel Hamilton, Justin Knight, Jade Lees, Luke Meppem, Ryan O’Neill, Steve Phelps, Chris Sargent, Nick Smart, Dylan Smith, Nathan Trindall.

2019-20 War Vets Cup ladder: 1. Narrabri (three wins, no losses, 18 points), 2. Tamworth (two wins, one loss, 13 points), 3. Gunnedah (one win, two losses, eight points), 4. Inverell (no wins, three losses, three points).

Narrabri player profiles:

NDCA president’s message:

The Narrabri DCA board of management and I would like to congratulate the Narrabri District Cricket Association’s representative squad which has managed to secure a home War Veterans Cup grand final this weekend when they take on Tamworth 1st XI at Collins Park. We were fortunate enough to host a War Veterans Cup grand final only two years ago, where we were victorious and lifted the cup for the first time in many years. That particular 2017-18 season was pivotal for our senior men’s squad where we had a developing group of some great new and young players coming through and some older, experienced players at the front of the change. The squad has remained all but the same since then and they have been rewarded with great results – including three back to back grand final appearances in the War Vets Cup – and an increasing availability of keen cricketers for our second XI team. We are very proud of the efforts from all players, managers and all other personnel involved with the Narrabri DCA representative squad so far this season. We really appreciate the personal efforts, time and money you are putting in to help bring back the polish and desire of playing representative cricket for Narrabri. Not to be left unstated, you are all providing a great example for the junior cricketers in our Shire as well – thank you. We would like to wish all players selected this weekend the best of luck and we look forward to seeing some exciting cricket. Play hard, play fair and play to win! We invite all cricket fans from the Narrabri Shire down to Collins Park to watch our first XI team take on Tamworth this Sunday.

GO SLUGS!

Brendon Ward, Narrabri DCA president

Match preview:

The Narrabri District Cricket Association’s representative first XI will contest its third grand final in as many seasons on Sunday when it takes on Tamworth in the 2019-20 War Veterans Cup decider.

Narrabri will have home ground advantage for the game after finishing at the summit of the four-team competition ladder to secure a Collins Park showdown.

The Pink Slugs – as they are commonly referred to – defeated all three of their opponents on their way to picking up a maximum 18 points.

They downed Tamworth away from home by four wickets after chasing down 139 runs back in round one on October 20.

Then in round two on November 10 Narrabri defeated Inverell away from home by five runs after defending 233 runs.

In their first home game of the season last Sunday the Pink Slugs beat Gunnedah at home by 25 runs after defending 178 runs.

That saw the final come home to Collins Park for just the third time in more than 20 years.

Narrabri’s last representative home grand final was in the 2017-18 season when it defeated Inverell by 72 runs after batting first and making 231 before knocking over the visitors for just 159.

That victory was inspired by duel players-of-the-match Nick Smart (102) and Jake Brayshaw (7-46), as well as skipper Lachlan Cameron (50).

Those three players will all line up for the Pink Slugs this Sunday.

Cameron, who is captaining the NDCA first XI for a ninth consecutive season and who has led the team to its fourth grand final appearance in five seasons, said that he and his men were pumped for Sunday’s game.

“It’s unreal to be in a third straight final and it will be a lot better if we win it of course,” Cameron said.

“Making the grand final is great and being at home is even better, we can’t wait to play in front of a home crowd.”

“If we don’t do the job this weekend no one remembers who finishes second so we have to finish the job.”

Cameron has commended his bowling attack throughout the 2019-20 season, but on Sunday the Pink Slugs will be without both opening bowlers Ryan O’Neill, who is sidelined with injury, and Dylan Smith, who is representing Central North at the CCNSW McDonald’s Country Colts tournament in Bathurst from Monday.

Cameron said playing without those two key men against a side which featured Central North batting gun Simon Norvill would be a tough task, but was one that his bowlers could manage.

“It’s obviously going to be a big challenge with no Dylan or Ryan, we’ve lost our two opening bowlers there,” Cameron said.

“But the way the guys bowled against Gunnedah missing Ryan was great.

“We’ve been applying so much pressure to teams that we’ve sort of forced them into a corner.

“Our bowlers have just really bowled to their field which has made my job as captain really easy.

“Simon Norvill for Tamworth is in a league of his own when it comes to how he attacks the bowler so it’s always going to be a massive challenge.

“But we’ve done it once, we restricted him to 40-odd over there. A guy like Harrison Kelly can do a lot of damage too so we can’t write him off.

“There’ll be a lot of challenges for our bowlers and where we can win the game is by how well we bowl to those couple of guys in the top order.”

Cameron said that besides the batting quality of Norvill and Kelly, he was not quite sure what to expect from second-placed Tamworth which won its last two matches of the season against Gunnedah and Inverell respectively to earn a spot in the decider.

However, he said his side would need to step up and earn the respect it deserved.

“I don’t know what to expect really, we aren’t sure what sort of a team they are going to bring over here,” Cameron said.

“For me, playing Tamworth, this is big, this is the one.

“The first year when we won it (season 2017-18) we had a washout against Tamworth and didn’t have to play them and then last season they bought a half string side over that we beat, so this is the year I feel we earn our respect in the comp.

“We’ve beaten them over there but to beat them in a final would top everything off, everything we have worked for since I’ve been involved in the last 10 years.”

Sunday’s War Vets Cup grand final will be a first for Narrabri for four of the team’s players as Cooper Brayshaw, Steve Phelps, Justin Knight and Jade Lees all line up for their maiden War Vets decider.

Brayshaw and Knight played in the MA Connolly Cup loss for the Pink Slugs last season and were their team’s top scorers with 36 and 32 respectively.

Sunday’s 50-over War Vets Cup grand final between Narrabri and Tamworth will begin at 10am at Collins Park.

 

 

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