Priag Marketing goes top and Rose Pest Control scores first win in round five

Priag Marketing has taken the lead at the top of the Narrabri District Cricket Association’s 2020-21 Namoi Super Slog T20 competition ladder following a 21-run win against Specialised Civil Services last night.

A Lachlan Cameron-inspired victory saw the side finish as outright leaders with just one match left to play.

The Priag Marketing skipper won the toss and elected to bat, then scored 54 runs from 34 deliveries. He smashed four sixes and a four in that innings and combined with fellow opener Bernard O’Connor for a 73-run opening-wicket partnership.

Cameron was finally dismissed in the 13th over, caught behind by Hadley Sevil from the bowling of Sam Bullen.

15-year-old O’Connor went on to score a patient 25 (57) and was the only other Priag Marketing batsman to post a double-digit score as the team finished with 7-113 after its 20 overs.

Priag Marketing then restricted Specialised Civil Services to 92 runs before taking the winning wicket with just five deliveries remaining.

The competition’s leading run-scorer, Specialised Civil Services skipper Nick Smart, top-scored with 25 (23) for the chasing side.

Cameron told The Courier that his side would not be resting on its laurels after its comfortable victory against the defending champions.

“To be honest I don’t think we should change anything in terms of our mindset,” Cameron said.

“We have gone into this weekend thinking we were going to have to win both games and that’s still our goal [going into round six].

“I don’t want it to come down to net run rate calculations, we know if we win [tonight’s game] we are definitely in the grand final but if we lose it could come down to mathematical equations and we could miss out.”

Cameron commended youngster O’Connor after their match-winning opening partnership.

“We didn’t fly out of the blocks but we did what we needed to do,” Cameron said.

“We scored at about five or six an over and we stayed none down and that was the key, we had wickets in hand late in the innings.

“We talked about being patient, in past games we’ve gone a bit too hard in the power play and lost a few early wickets.

“Bernard did a great job, he ran well between the wickets and we pinched a lot of free runs that we pressured the field into.

“He turned over the strike well and scored some runs himself, he really did what he needed to do for our team.”

In the other round five match, Rose Pest Control scored its first win of the 2020-21 campaign. It took on WTC Earthmoving at Collins Park and won by 20 runs.

Rose Pest Control batted first after skipper Ty Baker won the toss, and the side lasted 20 overs in the middle to finish on 9-92.

In reply, WTC Earthmoving limped to 72 before losing its final wicket with five deliveries remaining.

Those results meant that Priag Marketing (26 points) finished round five a win clear at the top of the table ahead of second-placed WTC Earthmoving and third-placed Specialised Civil Services (both 20 points, WTC is ahead on net run rate).

Rose Pest Control (14 points) is fourth, but can still finish second to qualify for the grand final.

Tonight, in the sixth and final round of the regular season, Rose Pest Control challenges Specialised Civil Services at Collins Park while Priag Marketing and WTC Earthmoving go head-to-head at Hogan Oval.

If Rose Pest Control and Priag Marketing win those respective games, then Rose Pest Control, Specialised Civil Services, and WTC Earthmoving would all finish the season with 21 points. Net run rate would then determine which side qualified for the grand final.

However, if WTC Earthmoving and Specialised Civil Services both win, those two sides and Priag Marketing would all finish with 27 points. Net run rate would then decide which two teams qualify for the decider and which misses out.