TEAM LISTS: RSL and Western Razorbacks name their sides for the NDCA first grade grand final

The last time Narrabri RSL Cricket Club won a Narrabri District Cricket Association first grade one day grand final was back in 2013, when it smashed Tatts by 109 runs at Collins Park on March 16 to claim the 2012-13 season premiership in style.

Eight years on, eight of the 11 players from that championship-winning team will play in the NDCA’s 2020-21 first grade final when RSL takes on the Western Razorbacks at Collins Park tomorrow.

That includes Zaac and Jake Brayshaw, Mick Dowdell, Jarrett Tough and Shane Murphy who will all be in action for RSL in a highly-anticipated decider.

The other three 2012-13 championship players will line up against RSL.

Wee Waa trio Josh Trindall, Justin Knight, and Jay Hall were part of that grand final glory back in 2013 but this weekend they will pull on Razorbacks shirts, determined to help the NDCA’s newest club win its maiden first grade one day competition premiership.

Tough, who is now the RSL first XI captain, labelled the 2012-13 grand final win as a special one for both him and the club.

He said that Hall, Trindall and Knight all played key roles in what was RSL’s most recent premiership victory.

“Those three were probably the reason we won that year actually,” Tough said.

“They added a lot to our team.

“That was a good weekend but we’ve all moved past that now and we are all looking forward to this weekend.

“We want to beat them and we know they’ll be wanting to beat us.”

A new champion will be crowned when RSL and the Razorbacks go head-to-head tomorrow.

The Tatts first XI’ stranglehold over the competition which saw it qualify for five consecutive grand finals, four of which it won including the most recent three, is officially finished.

Tatts placed fourth on the 2020-21 ladder with just two wins to its name from the 11 matches it played.

Minor premiers RSL and the third-placed Razorbacks are now determined to start a dynasty of their own.

The Razorbacks entered the NDCA competition in the 2018-19 season after the Pilliga District Cricket Association competition disbanded.

Since then, the Wee Waa-based club has been a force to be reckoned with in the NDCA competition.

It won the 2018-19 T20 grand final and the 2018-19 first grade one day minor premiership and has qualified for all three first one day grand finals.

The Razorbacks lost their first two big dances against Tatts but are determined to go one better tomorrow against RSL on the back of a thrilling preliminary final win against an in-form Civeo side last weekend.

Skipper Ty Baker told The Courier that his men are pumped and ready to take on RSL in a grand final they were not confident they would even be playing in.
“I didn’t think we’d win against Civeo there last weekend so we are pumped to get through and have another crack at the grand final,” Baker said.

“We didn’t beat Civeo all year, obviously we were pumped to play the semi but just looking at the side they had we weren’t sure if we’d get through.

“Now we are there and we are hoping it’ll be third time lucky for us.

“We’ve batted first against RSL a few times this season and they’ve chased it down really easily. In our third game we got 180-odd (183) against them and they chased it down pretty comfortably.

“So this weekend I’m leaning towards chasing against them. If we can chase like we did (against Civeo) on the weekend we are in with a chance.

“We just need to keep their batters quiet and bat better ourselves.

“We had a good first-wicket partnership on Saturday but couldn’t really build any more after that. If we can get two or three more partnerships in we’ll be sweet.”

The Razorbacks will be boosted by the return of batsman Toby Reynolds for the grand final, while Brandon Couley comes into the side as its 12th man bowler, replacing Maxwell Smith.

RSL has a full squad to choose from tomorrow and will go with a familiar-looking side, much to the pleasure of Tough who told The Courier that his men were pumped and ready to roll.

“We had a full club training run at number three on Saturday which we were able to do with both teams making their finals,” he said.

“It went pretty good and the boys are ready, everyone is very keen.

“We’ve been the best team all year but we know that the Razorbacks will be pretty hard to beat tomorrow.

“They are a good fighting side, they dig in pretty well and they certainly don’t lie down.”

Tough added that his side would need to be switched on in the field.

“We’ve got plenty of batting and we’ve batted well this year as a group,” he said.

“This weekend we just need to click in the bowling and the fielding. We’ve been a bit off a few times in the fielding innings. We’ve been a bit sloppy so if we can all be switched on and not give them easy runs we should be able to tie them down well.”

RSL and the Razorbacks have played against one another five times throughout the 2020-21 season.

The Razorbacks won the round one game by five wickets, then RSL won by seven wickets in round four, three wickets in round seven, 92 runs in round 10 and four wickets in round 14.

However, all that is now in the past and all that matters is which team wins their sixth meeting when they face off at Collins Park tomorrow in the grand final.

Team lists are as follows:

RSL: Jarrett Tough (c), Cooper Brayshaw, Jake Brayshaw, Zaac Brayshaw, Mick Dowdell, Hamish Duncan, Cody Kember, Shane Murphy, Tim Shields, Craig Summers, Nathan Trindall, Matt Tubner.

Razorbacks: Ty Baker (c), Brandon Couley, Angus Galagher, Jay Hall, Nathan Hamblin, Daniel Hamilton, Clay Hoffman, Justin Knight, Harry Pattison, Toby Reynolds, Chris Smith, Josh Trindall.