RSL secures second straight NDCA first grade premiership

Narrabri RSL Cricket Club has been crowned champions of the Narrabri District Cricket Association first grade competition for a second consecutive season.

The 2021-22 season minor premiers entered Saturday’s grand final having not played in four weeks since round eight on February 19 and showed signs of rust during the first innings against a Tourist Hotel side that was determined to win its first top grade premiership since 2010.

RSL batted first after captain Jarrett Tough won the toss, and it limped to 7-77 after 28 overs.

However, the defending champions regrouped and batted out the 45 overs to finish on 8-193. They went on to roll Tourist Hotel for 91 runs in 30.5 overs to win the 2021-22 decider by 102 runs.

RSL’s gun all-rounder Cody Kember was named man-of-the-match after rescuing his side’s batting innings.

Kember entered at number nine for RSL and scored an unbeaten 74, the highest score in an NDCA first grade grand final in seven years since Luke Barton smashed 77 for Golf Club in its 2014-15 premiership victory.

Kember has batted in the top five for the majority of the season for RSL. However, Tough took a huge risk by batting him lower down the order in the decider and unleashing him at Tourist Hotel’s slower bowlers later in the innings.

It was a gamble that well and truly paid off.

Kember later claimed the match-winning wicket when he trapped Tourist Hotel tail-ender Jason Paull in front in the 31st over of the second innings.

An ecstatic Tough told The Courier he was proud of his team and that he was relieved after RSL’s less than ideal start to the match.

“It was really good, to be honest,” Tough said.

“It was a bit of a roller-coaster of emotions through the day.

“I don’t usually get nervous at all, but I was really nervous on Saturday morning, and then once I saw the pitch I was actually hoping I’d lose the toss because it was quite green and a little bit soft at each end.

“You always want to have runs on the board in the big game, but I thought we had the bowlers to bowl first as well and utilise what looked like was going to be on offer. But I couldn’t bring myself to say bowl.

“I won it and said ‘bat’, and we then proceeded to be three for 20-something and then when I got out, we were 7-77.

“I had already decided to keep Cody (Kember) to bat down the order so we could get through Mowley (Jordyn Mowle) and Jye (Manton) until they’d brung the spinners on.

“I knew Cody would do pretty well against the spinners.

“It worked out well. I thought he might come out and get 20 or 30 and get us to 100, but he played the innings of his life and got us to 193.

“I thought that we were in a pretty unlosable position by then.

“I thought Will Ford and Murph (Shane Murphy) batted really well too.

“Murph went out when we were two for not many and lost two partners but took us from about 13 to 57.

“Then Will – I brought him up the order a bit because he’s been doing really well this season. I told him to just play cricket. He knows what he’s doing. He took his time at the start and helped me get through most of Jye Manton’s overs and into the spinners. When I got out, him and Cody went to town pretty much. They both hit some nice shots.

“I’m very proud of Will. Without his innings, Cody couldn’t have done what he did.

“I thought that Tourist bowled and fielded very well too. They did some great things there until Cody went out.

“Our bowling was good too. We started off really well.

“Nathan (Trindall) started well and got us a few wickets, and Will (Ford) bowled well too and got us a couple of early wickets.

“Jake (Brayshaw) came on and bowled well as well. He ended up with two wickets and only went for 22 runs off his nine overs.”

Tough thanked Tourist skipper Luke Meppem and his side for an enjoyable game and congratulated them on a successful season.

He also thanked the NDCA board, led by Josh Rose, and all the ground staff who worked hard throughout the season to make sure three turf wickets were ready to go every week.

In Saturday’s decider, Tourist Hotel well and truly dominated the opening session as quicks Jordyn Mowle and Hamish Duncan ripped through the RSL top order with two wickets each to make the score 4-46 after 15 overs.

Duncan took the first wicket of the contest in the fourth over when he dismissed Bernard O’Connor (0), who was caught behind by Lachlan Woolford.

Mowle knocked over Zaac Brayshaw (0) in the fifth over and Tim Shields (10) in the seventh, before Duncan claimed the big wicket of the NDCA first grade competition’s top run-scorer Cooper Brayshaw (7) in the 12th over.

The Tourist men came out firing after drinks as gloveman Woolford took his third catch of the day to remove Hadley Sevil (1) from the bowling of Duncan.

That made the score 5-46 after 16 overs before RSL clawed its way back to go into the 30-over drinks break at 7-90.

Shane Murphy (24) and Tough (10) were the only two RSL batsmen in the top seven to reach double figures before they departed in the 21st and 28th overs, respectively.

While Tourist Hotel only needed three wickets to bring the innings to a close, the job was certainly not over against an RSL side that bats all the way to number 11.

Kember and Ford were at the crease at drinks and scored 30 more runs in the first three overs after drinks to make the score 7-120.

Ford (33) was eventually dismissed in the 34th over following an impressive innings in what was the 16-year-old’s first grand final in the top grade following a breakout season with both bat and ball.

After combining for a 52-run eighth-wicket partnership with Ford, Kember formed an even larger partnership with RSL’s number 10 batsman Jake Brayshaw. They both remained at the crease after the final ball had been bowled as a 64-run partnership, which was the largest of the match, made the score 6-193.

Kember finished unbeaten on 74, following an innings that included five fours and three sixes, while Brayshaw held up the other end and finished on 14 runs.

Tourist Hotel’s best with the ball was Duncan (3-24 off nine overs). His teammates Mowle (2-37 off nine overs) and Jade Lees (2-44 off nine overs) took two each. The side’s other wicket-taker was Jye Manton, who produced an economical 1-16 off eight overs in his first grand final appearance in the top grade.

RSL dominated with the ball early in the game’s innings after producing an even better start than Tourist did in the first.

Opening bowlers Trindall and Ford combined for five wickets in the first eight overs to make the score 8-24 and put their side well and truly on the front foot.

Trindall was in the thick of it early as he knocked over Aaron Baker (4) in the first over, took a catch to remove Matt Conroy (6) in the fourth over and then claimed two more scalps in the fifth when he dismissed Chris Sargent (0) and Duncan (1).

Ford celebrated his second wicket in the eighth over when he trapped Mark Page (1) in front during a wicket-maiden.

Tough brought himself on to bowl in the 12th over and delivered in the 14th when he dismissed Meppem (12) before Tourist Hotel went into the 15-over drinks break struggling at 6-40.

Things went from bad to worse for the chasing side after drinks. It lost its seventh wicket from the third delivery of the second session when O’Connor took a catch from the bowling of his captain to remove Mowle (0).

RSL’s spinner Jake Brayshaw then backed up his classy efforts with the bat with a fantastic spell with the ball, which included a double-wicket-maiden in the 21st over. He dismissed Jade Lees (5) and Brady Jenkins (0) during that over to make the score 9-56.

That left Lachlan Woolford and Jason Paull in the middle together, and the Tourist Hotel duo delayed the inevitable RSL championship celebrations with a frustrating 35-run final-wicket partnership.

It was finally broken in the 31st over when Kember trapped Paull (4) in front to wrap up RSL’s second premiership win in as many seasons.

At the other end, a determined Woolford remained unbeaten on 43 runs after losing his fifth and final partner.

Trindall (3-33 off nine overs) was RSL’s best with the ball in the grand final, while teammates Tough (2-4 off three overs), Ford (2-10 off five overs) and Brayshaw (2-22 off nine overs) claimed two scalps each.

Kember capped off his man-of-the-match performance with 1-1 from 0.5 overs.

Tough said that he hoped the entire RSL team would return in the 2022-23 season to have a crack at a three-peat.

“I definitely want to captain the boys again, and we should hopefully have the same team pretty much,” Tough said.

“You never know what will happen between now and October, but most of the boys are keen to run around again.

“You don’t want to stop playing cricket on a high like that unless you need to.

“We’ll be looking to go round again for a three-peat.”