Narrabri RSL Cricket Club first XI downs Tourist Hotel in top-of-the-table clash

Narrabri RSL Cricket Club’s first XI has taken the lead at the top of the table in the Narrabri District Cricket Association first grade competition after it defeated Tourist Hotel by five wickets in round 10 at Leitch Oval on Saturday afternoon.

The two sides entered the weekend locked on 48 points, and the RSL men got the job done to go six points clear with just two rounds remaining in the regular season.

RSL skipper Jarrett Tough won the toss and elected to bowl first in the top-of-the-table clash. He told The Courier he made that decision to put a bit of pressure on his bowlers with the finals right around the corner, and he said they certainly delivered. RSL bowled the Tourist Hotel side out for 126 runs in 37.7 overs, and the defending champions chased down the required total with 16 overs to spare, having only lost five wickets.

It was their sixth win in a row since the competition resumed after they started the season with a loss against Tourist and three washed-out draws during last year’s flood.

In RSL’s round 10 contest, opening bowler Nathan Trindall produced a man-of-the-match performance when he took his first five-wicket haul of the 2022/23 season as he finished with 5-31 from nine overs.

He took the first wicket of the game in the fifth over when he bowled Tourist Hotel opener Hamish Duncan (10).

He then knocked over Matt Conroy (0), who he bowled in the seventh over, and Lachlan Woolford (1), who was caught behind by Zaac Brayshaw in the ninth over.

That made the score 3-36, and the Tourist men lost a fourth before the first drinks break when Chris Sargent (2) was caught by Bernard O’Connor in the Cooper Brayshaw-bowled 12th over.

The score was 4-56 at the 15-over mark, and it took RSL just 13 balls to take its fifth wicket of the game after the break when Jake Thurston took a tough catch at gully to remove Tourist Hotel opener Nick Tomlinson (26). Jake Brayshaw claimed that scalp with what was the first delivery of a wicket maiden.

It left Tourist skipper Luke Meppem at the crease with Josh Trindall, and the duo combined for their side’s largest partnership of the contest. They contributed 30 runs together before Meppem (8) became Nathan Trindall’s fourth victim when he was caught by O’Connor in the 29th over.

That made the score 6-93, which became 7-93 three balls later when Trindall bowled Dylan Segundo for a duck to complete a double-wicket-maiden.

Josh Trindall continued to score the bulk of Tourist Hotel’s runs but he lost another partner when Gareth Lamond (3) was caught behind by Zaac Brayshaw in the Cooper Brayshaw-bowled 35th over, which made the score 8-113.

Trindall continued to fight and he brought up his half-century before reaching a game-high 56 runs. He was then bowled by Cooper Brayshaw in the 37th over as the score became 9-121.

The final wicket fell in the 38th over when Ciaran McCann (1) was run out by Thurston to bring the innings to a close.

Jye Manton (4*) remained unbeaten as Tourist Hotel finished all out on 126 runs.

Brayshaw brothers Cooper (3-24 from eight overs) and Jake (1-24 from 6.4 overs) combined for four wickets to go with Trindall’s five-wicket haul and Thurston’s runout.

RSL came out firing in the game’s second innings as Jake Brayshaw and Jordan Doolan produced a 55-run opening-wicket partnership. It lasted almost 13 overs before Josh Trindall broke it with the final ball of his first over when he trapped Doolan (26) in front.

RSL went into the 15-over drinks break cruising at 1-65, but Tourist Hotel began applying the pressure shortly after play resumed as Jake Brayshaw was caught by Lamond from the bowling of Trindall for a team-best score of 27 in the 17th over, and then the competition’s leading run-scorer Bernard O’Connor (10) was caught and bowled by Sargent in the 18th.

Those wickets made the score 3-73, which became 4-81 in the Trindall-bowled 21st over when Will Ford (1) was caught behind by Woolford.

Trindall claimed a fourth scalp in the 25th over as he bowled Thurston (10) to make the score 5-93, which left Cooper Brayshaw and Cody Kember at the crease.

That duo blasted their side to a five-wicket win as they put on a 34-run partnership in five overs to bring the match to a close.

Brayshaw finished unbeaten on 22 after he hit the winning single, and Kember remained not out on 20.

Josh Trindall (4-22 from nine overs) was his side’s best with the ball and was unlucky not to earn the three best and fairest points in a losing side, as he also scored a half-century.

Trindall picked up two points and RSL’s Nathan Trindall earned three, and the one point went to Cooper Brayshaw.

RSL will play to remain in outright first position when it takes on fellow round 10 winners Tatts at Leitch Oval in round 11 this Saturday.

Tatts won its match by 46 runs at Collins Park in round 10 after it batted first and scored 132 runs in 37.5 overs before knocking over Western Razorbacks for 86 runs in 26.2 overs.