RSL celebrates fourth consecutive second grade grand final victory

Narrabri RSL Cricket Club won its fourth consecutive second grade one day competition premiership when it downed Tatts by 30 runs at Hogan Oval on Saturday.

RSL went into the 2021-22 season having won the past three minor and major premierships, but Tatts was able to wrestle the top-of-the-table finish away from its rivals with a win in the eighth and final round.

When the two sides met in a rematch for the major premiership, it was RSL that got the job done as it continued its dominance in the NDCA second grade arena.

The defending champions batted first after skipper Justin Saunders won the toss and they batted out the 40 overs to finish on 8-156.

RSL then took the match-winning wicket in the fourth last over of a match that almost went the distance when Chris Watkins dismissed Jake Cooper to secure a 30-run victory.

RSL’s Jordan Doolan was named the grand final man-of-the-match after producing his best game for the club since joining two seasons ago.

Doolan batted at number five and fell five runs short of a half-century in the first innings, before he produced a sensational performance with the ball in the second innings as he claimed 1-11 from eight overs.

Alistair Wheeler was another man-of-the-match candidate after he stood up for RSL and scored his second half-century in as many weeks.

After blasting an unbeaten 55 in a seven-wicket preliminary final win a week earlier, Wheeler opened the batting in the grand final and scored 54 runs.

He and Nick Baird (15) combined for a 32-run first-wicket partnership before Baird was bowled by Bill Wood in the sixth over.

Wheeler was still at the crease at the 20-over drinks break when the score was 3-81, but he departed two overs after play restarted when he was caught by Tatts skipper Craig Gleeson from the bowling of Chris Hartnett.

Doolan, who enjoyed a 49-run partnership with Wheeler, anchored the remainder of the innings before he was bowled by Gleeson for 45 with three overs left.

Karan Veer Dhiman (13*) also made a handy contribution and remained unbeaten after the final delivery of the innings had been bowled.

Tatts’ best with the ball was Wood (3-29 from eight overs), while Dylan Segundo (2-22) and Hartnett (2-32) took two wickets each during their respective eight-over spells and the side’s captain Gleeson finished with 1-35 from eight overs.

Tatts’ chase got off to a positive start as it scored 1-46 in the first 13 overs.

Mark Crutcher (5) was run out early by Gabe O’Connor, before Guy Gleeson and Wood put on a 30-run partnership.

Those two departed in back-to-back overs when Wood (17) was bowled by Doolan in the 14th and Gleeson (20) was caught by Luke Baker in the Karan-bowled 15th.

Middle order trio Michael Hewett (15), Craig Gleeson (10) and Dylan Segundo (25) all managed to make handy contributions.

However, the tail became exposed with 41 runs still needing to be scored when Segundo was bowled by Matt Tubner in the 34th over, which made the score 7-116.

Tubner claimed two more scalps in the 36th over to remove Jesse Packer (8) and Darcy Gleeson (6), which left Tatts on 9-125 after 36 overs.

The chasing side required 32 runs to win from the final four overs with one wicket in hand, but it only managed to score one of those before Watkins took the match-winning wicket with one ball left to bowl in the 37th.

Tubner was RSL’s best with the ball with 3-19 from four overs. Teammates Baker (2-22) and Karan (2-26) took two wickets each from their eight-over spells, and Doolan (1-11 from eight overs) and Watkins (1-1 from 0.5 overs) took a wicket each.