Baker and Manton fire Tourist Hotel to its second win of the season

Tourist Hotel Narrabri Cricket Club kept its Narrabri District Cricket Association first grade competition minor premiership hopes alive on Saturday with a 36-run victory against Tatts at Leitch Oval.

The Tourist men batted first after being sent in by Tatts, and they made 118 runs in 27.1 overs.

Tatts could only muster up 82 runs in reply before the chasing side lost its final wicket in the 33rd over of the game’s second innings.

Three players contributed what were outstanding individual efforts in that match, two of which came in the first innings.

Tourist Hotel opener Aaron Baker scored a match-best 60 runs, 48 of which he added via boundaries in the form of six fours and four sixes.

At the other end, Tatts opening bowler Jonty Schwager produced an impressive five-wicket haul as he finished the game with 5-32 from nine overs, which included three maidens.

Schwager’s efforts were somehow outdone in the game’s second innings as Jye Manton, who got the call up to first grade during the week following the departure of all-rounder Jordyn Mowle, opened the bowling and ran in for nine straight overs to finish with a game-best haul of 5-17, which also included three maidens.

Those would have been season-best figures had the Western Razorbacks’ Josh Trindall not taken 5-14 from 8.5 overs against RSL in the other round seven match.

Tourist Hotel’s victory ensured it remained in the top three as the side maintained a lead of seven points (a point more than one win) over the last-placed Razorbacks (18 points), which also won on Saturday when they defeated RSL by 140 runs at Collins Park.

Those results meant that Tourist Hotel (25 points) moved within one win of second-placed Tatts (31 points) and two wins of first-placed RSL (37 points) with three rounds left to play.

That means that any of the top three sides can still claim the minor premiership and the automatic grand final qualification that comes with finishing first.

In round seven at Leitch Oval on Saturday, Baker got off the mark with a six from the second delivery of the Schwager-bowled first over then scored a single to put his opening batting partner Hamish Duncan on strike. Duncan (0) only lasted one ball as Schwager bowled him for a golden duck.

The Tatts opener struck again in the third over to make the score 2-19 as he removed Matt Conroy (0), who Jakeb Nipperess caught for a duck.

That became 3-20 in the fifth when Schwager trapped Tourist Hotel skipper Luke Meppem (1) in front during a wicket-maiden.

Schwager opened the bowling with spinner Gregg Gray, who inflicted more early pain on the opposition when he knocked over David McInnes (5) in the eighth over of the innings to make the score 4-27.

Baker then started to go after the Tatts bowlers and batted aggressively to guide his side to 76 runs at the 15-over drinks break.

Tourist went into that break five wickets down after Mark Page (5) was caught by Brendon Ward in the Rod Kirk-bowled 14th over.

Tourist Hotel then scored 19 runs in the first three overs after drinks to move to 5-95. However, that momentum was thwarted in the 19th when Schwager produced another wicket-maiden in his second over of his second spell. He knocked over Chris Sargent (10), who was caught by Gray.

Nipperess then struck with the big wicket in the following over when Sid Harvey caught Baker (60) on the boundary at deep mid-wicket.

Tourist Hotel finished that 20th over on 7-100 and added 18 more runs before losing its final wicket in the 28th over as Schwager (5-32 from nine overs) and Gray (3-14 from 8.1 overs) rolled through the tail.

Kirk (1-20 from four overs) and Nipperess (1-24 from three overs) combined for Tatts’ other two wickets.

Manton remained unbeaten on nine for Tourist Hotel before he opened the bowling with Duncan when the second innings began.

The duo created early pressure as they combined for three maidens in the first six overs and had restricted Tatts to just 18 runs after 10.

Duncan struck with Tourist Hotel’s first wicket in the 11th over after the early pressure took its toll. He knocked over Hugh Lennon (6), who was caught behind by Baker, making the score 1-18.

That became 2-19 when Manton took his first of the day. The opener conceded just four runs off his first five overs, and he then bowled Ben Keys (10) with the first ball of his fifth.

Tatts went into the 15-over drinks break on 2-36 before Manton turned the innings on its head with three big wickets in the 16th as he bowled Harvey (9), Nipperess (0) and Schwager (0) to make the score 5-41.

Manton was then thrown the ball for his ninth consecutive over in the 18th, and he produced a wicket-maiden, during which he bowled Gray (0) to make the score 6-41 and finish with a season-best 5-17.

Kirk (14) had entered the middle earlier in the innings and lost three partners before he became the next to depart when he was trapped in front by Jason Paull in the 20th over, making the score 7-48.

Ward, who was Tatts’ number eight on the day, scored an unbeaten 14 but lost teammates Chase Magner (9) and Jake Packer (0) to the bowling of Sargent in the 25th over.

Ward and James Keys stayed out in the middle for almost eight more overs, but the innings came to a close in the 33rd when Page trapped Keys (0) in front as Tourist celebrated a 36-run win.

All five bowlers used by Tourist took at least one wicket. Supporting Manton and his five-wicket haul were Sargent (2-7 from nine overs), Page (1-0 from 0.4 overs), Duncan (1-23 from seven overs) and Paul (1-34 from seven overs).

Tourist Hotel will now go in search of back-to-back wins for the first time this season when it challenges fellow round seven winners Western Razorbacks at Leitch Oval on Saturday in round eight.

On the other hand, Tatts will be determined not to lose back-to-back games for the first time in the 2021-22 campaign on Saturday when it meets RSL in a top-of-the-table clash at Collins Park.