GRAND FINAL BOUND: RSL claims NDCA first and second grade minor premierships

Narrabri RSL Cricket Club has claimed its second Narrabri District Cricket Association club championship in three years and has secured spots in this year’s first and second grade one day competition grand finals after winning the minor premierships in both grades.

The NDCA’s 15-round 2020-21 regular season came to a close on Saturday when, for the third time in four weeks, all matches were washed out and declared draws.

That ruined what was set to be a blockbuster day when the first grade minor premiership and the second grade preliminary final spots were still up for grabs.

However, all ladder positions following the round 14 matches remained unchanged as a result of those washouts, with all sides receiving four points except second grade minor premiers RSL which picked up seven points for the bye.

RSL’s second XI secured its third consecutive minor premiership several weeks ago following a dominant season in which it earned eight wins and just one loss.

On Saturday, the club’s first XI made it a sweet double when it was crowned minor premiers for the first time since the 2006-07 season.

Both RSL sides will now play in their respective grand finals on Saturday, March 13, and they will combine for a full club training run this Saturday.

Club president Mick Dowdell told The Courier that while there was a positive vibe around the club following its regular season success, the job was only half done.

While the two top-ranked teams fine-tune things ahead of the 2020-21 deciders, two preliminary finals will be played to determine which teams join them on grand final day.

In first grade, Civeo will take on the Western Razorbacks in a rematch of the 2019-20 preliminary final.

Civeo finished second on the 2020-21 ladder after tying RSL on 75 points but missed out on the minor premiership by 0.26 per cent. NDCA ladder percentage is generated using the formula (runs for/wickets lost)/(runs against/wickets taken).

It is the second time in as many campaigns that Civeo has finished on the same amount of points as the minor premiers but placed second. In the 2019-20 season, Civeo and Tatts finished locked on 54 points following 12 rounds, but the defending champions edged out Civeo by 0.10 per cent.

This season, RSL and Civeo both scored eight wins and went down three times each in 11 matches.

Their other four games were all washouts which were recorded as draws.

Third-placed Western Razorbacks won four matches and lost seven, but will be confident ahead of this Saturday’s preliminary final after winning the corresponding fixture last season from third place.

Tatts finished fourth in first grade following just two wins and nine losses, claiming the wooden spoon after being crowned champions the previous three seasons and having competed in the past five grand finals.

In second grade, Western Razorbacks have secured second place for a third straight season since their inaugural campaign in season 2018-19.

The Wee Waa-based side qualified for the 2018-19 grand final which it lost against RSL but went down in last season’s preliminary final.

It played Tatts in both of those preliminary finals but will meet a new challenger this year in third-placed Civeo.

Civeo, which previously competed in the competition as Crossroads, has not finished in the top three since the 2016-17 season when it was crowned minor premiers and went on to win the grand final.

It has been handed the wooden spoon twice in three seasons since then but is now focused on returning to the top.

The Razorbacks and Civeo have both won four games each in the 2020-21 campaign. The Razorbacks lost four matches and had three washout draws, while Civeo lost five games and had two washout draws.

The two teams which missed out on qualifying for the second grade finals series were Tatts which placed fourth and Tourist which finished last.