Narrabri RSL Cricket Club wins third straight NDCA first grade minor premiership

Narrabri RSL Cricket Club claimed its third straight Narrabri District Cricket Association one day campaign minor premiership on Saturday when it beat Western Razorbacks by seven wickets in round 12 at Leitch Oval.

The defending champs entered the 2022/23 season having earned minor/major premiership doubles in 2021 and 2022, and they can now achieve that for a third consecutive year if they prevail in the grand final on Saturday, March 11.

Claiming the minor premiership is a direct pathway to the decider, and the other spot will go to the winner of the preliminary final, which will be played this Saturday, March 4, at Leitch Oval.

That match will see second-placed Tourist Hotel take on the third-placed Tatts, two sides that met in the final round of the regular season at Collins Park on Saturday. Tourist Hotel won that match by five wickets.

At Leitch Oval in round 12, RSL had to fight for what should have been a comfortable victory.

The minor premiership was on the line as a loss coupled with a Tourist Hotel win would have seen the two teams finish locked on 63 points.

So, when RSL knocked over a nine-man Razorbacks team for just 55 runs in 24.3 overs, the middle order could have been forgiven for packing their gear away.

However, the Razorbacks managed to snag seven wickets before the RSL men finally reached the required total in the 17th over of the second innings.

It was the second time in as many games that RSL made tough work out of a low chasing total after it scored 7-82 against an understrength Tatts side at the same venue a week earlier.

However, a win is a win and RSL will now have two weeks to prepare for their third grand final appearance in as many seasons.

The minor premiers go into that match with the NDCA first grade competition’s leading wicket-taker, leading run-scorer and best and fairest player.

Nathan Trindall claimed 2-15 from six overs in Saturday’s win against the Western Razorbacks, which included the big wickets of Steve Phelps (0) and Greg Melton (6).

He bowled Phelps in the third over and Melton in the seventh, which made the score 2-13.

Those two scalps saw the RSL quick finish on 16 for the season, two ahead of his teammates Cody Kember and Cooper Brayshaw.

Kember (3-16 from 5.3 overs) took three wickets on the day to finish with 15, equalling Brayshaw, who entered the game as the top wicket-taker and then finished the match with an economical 0-7 from six overs.

RSL’s other three wickets were taken by Jake Brayshaw, who claimed game-best figures of 3-12 from five overs.

He picked up three NDCA best and fairest points for that spell, which saw him finish on 10 in total, two clear of Kember and three clear of his brother, Cooper.

Bernard O’Connor (8) struck two boundaries in the second innings before he was caught by Dylan Smith from the bowling of Clay Hoffman.

That saw him finish the season with 168 runs, tied as the top run-scorer with Tourist Hotel’s Nick Tomlinson.

RSL’s best with the bat on the day was Jordan Doolan, who opened and scored 16 runs.

He was outdone by the Razorbacks’ Josh Schwager, who top-scored with 17 runs in the first innings during what was his first appearance of the season.

Dylan Smith and Matt Bradshaw opened the bowling for the Western Razorbacks in the second innings and bowled four overs each, after which RSL was cruising at 2-35.

They were then replaced by Clay Hoffman and Greg Melton, who both took a wicket during their first over and eventually combined for five.

Hoffman (3-18 from five overs) was the side’s best with the ball, while Melton (2-3 from four overs) was also impressive.

Smith finished the game with 1-24 from four overs and there was also a runout.

The loss saw the Razorbacks finish the season winless with 20 points.

Their first four games were washed out and declared draws, their next four were all forfeit losses, and their last four were all on-field losses.

They took the field with less than 11 players in three of those last four games.