Narrabri cousins Bernard O’Connor and Sid Harvey were at their brilliant best at Gunnedah’s Kitchener Oval on Sunday when they guided Namoi to a dominant Col Dent Shield win in round two of the 2022/23 Central North junior rep campaign.
Namoi, a combined Narrabri and Gunnedah side, hosted Coalfields in the under-17 competition match and won by 159 runs to get its season back on track following a five-wicket loss away from home against Inverell to kick off the new campaign two weeks earlier.
Namoi’s skipper Bernard won the toss and elected to bat on Sunday, and the home side then got the job done as it batted out the entire 50 overs to finish with 9-292.
It was an entertaining innings that had the fingerprints of 17-year-old Narrabri duo Bernard and Sid all over it.
The skipper entered the middle at number four and raised the bat late in the innings to celebrate a brilliant century. He was finally dismissed in the 44th over for 106 runs.
Remarkably, Bernard registered that brilliant knock from 101 deliveries and he smashed 10 fours and a six during the innings.
It was the second match in a row in the Col Dent Shield that Bernard top-scored after he notched up 72 runs from 65 deliveries in round one against Inverell.
Sid was playing his first game of the season in round two, and he also impressed. He entered at number three and scored 65 runs, 52 of which came via boundaries as he dispatched seven fours and four sixes.
Like his cousin, Sid struck at more than 100, with his innings lasting 51 deliveries.
Bernard and Sid spent a chunk of time out in the middle together, but an exact partnership is unknown as both the paper scorebook and online scoring system did not record a list of the fall of wickets, though Bernard predicted that it would have been about 50 runs.
The other Narrabri players in action on Sunday were Darcy Gleeson and Max Hunter. Max finished the innings unbeaten on 10, while Darcy did not bat.
The Namoi side required just 32.5 overs in the game’s second innings to bring the contest to a close as it rolled Coalfields for 133.
Sid (1-6 off two overs) and Bernard (1-14 off four overs) took a wicket each and, between them, they contributed to three more wickets as Sid claimed two catches and Bernard held onto one.
Namoi now enters its round three clash full of confidence when it takes on the form team of the competition.
That is Maitland Maroon, which prevailed by 124 runs on Sunday after scoring 4-327 and restricting Inverell to 6-203.
Maitland Maroon is the only team to have won on two occasions so far this season, however, only four of the eight teams have played two matches.
The other scheduled round two game between Tamworth Blue and Tamworth Gold did not go ahead on Sunday and has been rescheduled for Sunday, February 5.
Namoi’s round three match against Maitland Maroon will be played at Scone’s Bill Rose Sports Complex on Sunday, November 13.
Meanwhile, Narrabri’s under-13s and under-15s teams were both scheduled to play their round two matches away from home against the Armidale Bushrangers on Sunday.
Neither of those matches went ahead, and both have been moved to Sunday, January 29.
Both Narrabri sides will travel away from home for their round three games on Sunday, November 13.
The under-13s side will take on Maitland Gold at Tamworth in the George Denton Shield, and the under-15s team will also take on Maitland Gold in Tamworth in the John Kilborn Shield.
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