Two NDJCA rep sides sides go down fighting in their season openers

Narrabri District Junior Cricket Association’s 2021 season will begin at Cooma Oval this Saturday, just six days after two of the association’s rep teams contested their respective 2021-22 Central North competition opening round matches last Sunday.

NDJCA’s under-17s and under-13s teams both travelled for their round one games, and both suffered losses despite their courageous efforts.

The under-17s team challenged Coalfields (a combined Cessnock/Singleton/Maitland side) in Scone, where it lost by 114 runs.

Narrabri won the toss and sent Coalfields into bat, and the Hunter outfit batted out its 50 overs to finish with an impressive 4-284.

That massive total came off the back of a match-winning performance by the side’s number three batsman Alex Stafa who scored the first century of the competition. He retired on an unbeaten 151 late in the innings following the classy knock, during which he cleared the boundary 10 times and smashed 12 fours.

The side’s next top individual score was 27, and it was well and truly a ‘what could have been’ situation for the Narrabri side which dropped the Coalfields top-scorer in the twenties.

Narrabri’s four wicket-takers were DJ Allen (1-15 from two overs), Elsie Ford (1-30 from seven overs), Ben Keys (1-51 from five overs) and Clay Hoffman (1-69 from nine overs).

Narrabri’s run chase got off to a less than ideal start when DJ Allen was run out before scoring a run during the first over, making the score 1-0.

That wicket left Bernard O’Connor and Sid Harvey at the crease and the pair got the innings back on track as they combined for a phenomenal 100-run partnership. That was broken when Bernard (35) was caught as the score became 2-200.

The 10-player Narrabri side lost its final seven wickets while scoring just 70 more runs as its innings came to an end during the 36th over.

Sid top-scored for the chasing side with 56 runs before he was dismissed by Coalfields’ Jack Knight who spun his way to a game-best 5-55 from 10 overs.

In Inverell, the NDJCA under-13s team went down by five wickets.

The visitors made 134 runs before losing their 10th and final wicket in the 38th over after they had earlier lost the toss and been sent in to bat.

The visiting side’s number four batsman Lachlan Mason scored a game-best 43, while Pat Campbell (18), Max Vogel (11) and Lucas Duff (10) made handy contributions in the middle order.

Inverell chased down the required total inside 37 overs after losing five wickets.

Elias Watt (1-7 from two overs), Jakson Dowdell (1-11 from four overs), Oscar Crocket (1-14 from two overs) and Will Clarke (1-16 from 1.5 overs) took the visiting side’s wickets.

Narrabri District Cricket Association chairman Ash Watt told The Courier he was proud of both sides’ efforts on Sunday.

“As I’ve said before, it’s really exciting to get a 17s team on the field this season,” Watt said.

“It’s disappointing we didn’t get a 15s, but that opened the door for us to get a 17s team on the field.

“Those Hunter teams are always strong, so for us to travel down there and put a pretty good score on the board was a good effort, and our players can hold their heads up high.

“Obviously, the Coalfields batting performance was comprehensive so we didn’t get the win, but we will definitely improve.

“Due to vaccinations, we were a bit short, but we have a few players getting vaxxed this week and they’ll be back for the next game.

“We’ll only get stronger in the 17s.

“With the 13s, I thought we had a red hot crack.

“After being on the ropes early a little bit, we had a really solid partnership (between Lachlan Mason and Pat Campbell) in the middle there.

“I think the guys showed a lot of heart to stay in the game and go on to put a pretty decent total on the board.

“It was a good performance from our 13s and I think we’ll do pretty well in our next few games.”

This Sunday in round two of their respective campaigns, the under-17s side will take on Tamworth at home while the under-13s meet Coalfields in Gunnedah.

The NDJCA under-11s team also begins its Northern Inland Cricket Council representative season when it hosts Moree at Cooma Oval. The under-11s side will play its first three matches on home soil.