Narrabri RSL Cricket Club stormed back to winning ways with a 137-run win against Tatts at Hogan Oval on Saturday in round five of the 2022/23 Narrabri District Cricket Association first grade season.
RSL batted first in its second match of the season and showed no signs of rust following three consecutive washed out rounds, scoring 173 runs in 43.1 overs after being sent in by Tatts skipper Jakeb Nipperess.
The NDCA defending champs then knocked over the chasing side for just 36 runs in 16.1 overs.
Gun all-rounder Cooper Brayshaw produced a performance for the ages for RSL.
The reigning NDCA first grade batting aggregate and average award winner scored a game-best 44 runs in the first innings of the match to help guide his side to a defendable total. However, it was with the ball that Brayshaw did the most damage as he took 5-1 from 2.1 overs after ripping through the Tatts middle and lower order.
He took four of those wickets in the 15th over of the innings, and was on a hat-trick twice in that over, and then took the final wicket in the 17th.
Unsurprisingly, he picked up the three NDCA best and fairest points.
Defending champions RSL entered the season with high hopes off the back of a second straight grand final win in March, but they were stunned in the opening round when Tourist Hotel chased down 102 after RSL had
them at 7-37 at one stage.
On Saturday though, Jarrett Tough couldn’t have asked for a better reply from his team.
It was a win that Tough was not there for, though, and in his absence the NDCA representative XI skipper Nathan Trindall took the reins over the side.
The game was Tatts’ first and they were missing a handful of players, and the club is confident that it will shake off the loss and be a force in the 2022/23 first grade campaign.
There were positive signs early for Tatts as opening bowlers Jonty Schwager and Sid Harvey impressed with the ball.
Harvey took the first wicket of the game in the second over when he bowled Jake Brayshaw (2), and his opening partner Schwager applied some early pressure in his first spell that lasted four overs and only went for 11 runs.
Harvey’s replacement at the bridge end was Dylan Brown, who claimed the second wicket of the innings in the 12th over when Hadley Sevil (12) nudged at a short and wide delivery and was caught in the slips by Rod Kirk.
But while Tatts was able to remove RSL’s openers cheaply, RSL’s next three batsmen fired to guide the side well past 100.
Cooper Brayshaw top-scored with 44, and Zaac Brayshaw (40*) was the team’s next best. Those two entered at three and four and struck up a 72-run partnership, which only ended when Zaac retired hurt on 40 at the end of the 26th over.
Shane Murphy (31) then joined Cooper Brayshaw in the middle and began to forge an impressive innings of his own.
RSL looked well on their way to 200 at one stage, however, Tatts spinners Kirk and Jack Farrer knocked over Brayshaw and Murphy, respectively, which halted RSL’s momentum.
Farrer took three more wickets to finish the match with a team-best 4-31 from seven overs, and Harvey, Schwager and Nipperess claimed a wicket each late in the innings as RSL made 173 in 43.1 overs.
Tatts’ chase got off to a horror start when Daniel Kahl (0) was trapped in front by Trindall from the first ball of the innings.
It only went downhill from there as the RSL men took the nine wickets they required for victory in just 16.3 overs.
Trindall (3-14 from six overs) and his opening bowling partner Will Ford (1-4 from five overs) accounted for the Tatts top order before Cooper Brayshaw did the rest of the damage.
Brayshaw was on a hat-trick twice in the 15th over, which finished as a four-wicket-maiden, and he took the winning wicket in the 17th to finish with an impressive five-wicket haul.
The other match between Tourist Hotel and Western Razorbacks did not go ahead as the Wee Waa-based club forfeited.
In round six this Saturday, RSL will take on the Razorbacks at Collins Park and Tatts will challenge Tourist Hotel at Hogan Oval.
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