Tatts stays in the finals hunt with a big win

Tatts Cricket Club’s second XI entered Saturday’s Narrabri District Cricket Association second grade one day competition round 14 match against RSL almost certainly needing a win to keep its finals hopes alive.

Tatts went into the second last round of the season three points behind second-placed Civeo, which had the bye so automatically earned seven points, and also three behind the Western Imperial Razorbacks which took on last-placed Crossroads.

With the Razorbacks smashing Crossroads (see report on page 13) by 105 runs in a game that finished before Tatts’ did, a win became a necessity for Tatts’ finals hopes to stay alive.

The side managed to get the job done despite the efforts of RSL young gun Bernard O’Connor who starred with a game-best 6-48 from eight overs with the ball.

Tatts batted first and were struggling at 7-83 in the 28th over when the team’s top scorer Eben Botha was dismissed by O’Connor for 40.

However the Tatts tail wagged as Ryan Steel (27), Michael Hewett (10), Bill Wood (17*) and Ben Redfern (3*) combined to add 57 runs to the total help get Tatts to a defendable 127.

Tatts was then able to dismiss RSL openers Rod Tomlinson (0) and Craig O’Connor (1) cheaply in the third over to make the score 2-11.

RSL never really recovered and were behind the required run rate for most of the innings.

Only Matt Gilmore (27), Bernard O’Connor (13) and Alistair Wheeler (12) reached double figure scores as the chasing side fell for 83 runs in the 39th over.

Tatts’ best with the ball was Wood who claimed 3-9 from eight overs which included four maidens.

Waldo Botha also made a crucial contribution as he finished with 2-9 from six overs.

Sid Harvey (1-16 from six overs) and Dylan Segundo (1-18 from 6.2 overs) were also economical for Tatts.

Tatts cannot catch the Razorbacks given that the Wee Waa-based side has the round 15 bye this weekend so is already guaranteed a spot in the March 7 preliminary final.

However, Tatts can join the Razorbacks in that match if it beats Crossroads at Hogan Oval, but it also needs RSL to defeat Civeo too.