RSL defeat Tatts by three wickets to go into the break two wins clear

Narrabri RSL Cricket Club’s first XI enters the mid-season break soaring in first place with a two-game buffer between themselves and the two nearest sides below them following a top-of-the-table win against Tatts on Saturday.

The sides ranked first and second went head-to-head in round eight of Narrabri District Cricket Association’s 2023/24 campaign first grade one day competition at Leitch Oval, where RSL scored a three-wicket win.

Tatts skipper Jakeb Nipperess won the toss and elected to bat, and his side made 142 runs before losing their 10th and final wicket from the first delivery of the 38th over. RSL then chased down the required total in 35 overs, having lost seven wickets, to move to 47 points at the top of the ladder.

Tatts entered the round a win behind RSL in second place but are now two wins back as they sit level on 35 points alongside Tourist Hotel, who downed the Western Razorbacks by 17 runs at Collins Park in round eight. The Razorbacks are last on 10 points and are almost certainly out of finals contention.

RSL landed an early punch at Leitch Oval as Cooper Brayshaw dismissed one of Tatts’ openers, Craig Gleeson, for just eight runs with the assistance of a Jordan Doolan catch in the fourth over to make the score 1-15.

Brayshaw struck again during the 10th over when he knocked over Josh Campbell (6) who was caught behind by RSL wicketkeeper Zaac Brayshaw as the score became 2-35.

Those two wickets left Nipperess at the crease with Tom Craig, and Tatts’ two highest run-scorers this season combined for their team’s greatest partnership of the match as the duo put on 40 runs together. They took their side into the 15-over drinks break at 2-55 and were still in the middle when the 20th over began, however, RSL spinner Jake Brayshaw made the breakthrough from the sixth and final delivery of that over when he took the wicket of Nipperess (35) as Doolan held onto his second catch of the day.

Craig lost two more partners as Hugh Lennon and Karl Hatfield both departed for ducks, but he powered on and eventually smashed his sixth four of the day to move to 33 as he became the first batsman this season across the entire NDCA competition to surpass 200 combined runs. He was only able to add two more singles to move to 35 before he was caught by Jake Thurston during the Jarrett Tough-bowled 27th over as the RSL skipper claimed his second scalp of the contest to make the score 6-94.

Lower-order duo Bill Wood (21) and Waldo Botha (10) both made handy contributions late in the innings, but RSL youngsters Bernard O’Connor and Will Ford combined to claim the final four wickets as Tatts finished all out for 142 runs in 37.1 overs.

O’Connor was his team’s best with the ball with 3-18 from 3.1 overs, Cooper Brayshaw (2-17 from seven overs), Jake Brayshaw (2-29 from seven overs) and Tough 2-32 from nine overs) all took two each, and Ford (1-8 from three overs) finished with one.

Tough and Doolan then opened the batting for RSL and they got the second innings off to a flying start as a run rate of 10 an over saw the RSL men cruising at 0-50 after five overs. They scored another four runs in the sixth over before Tatts managed to claw themselves back into the game as they took 4-7 to make the score 4-61 after 11 overs.

Jonty Schwager claimed three of those wickets as he knocked over Tough (12) and Doolan (30) as well as O’Connor (1), while Craig dismissed RSL’s number three batsman Shane Murphy (1).

Cooper Brayshaw had arrived at the crease at number five amid the chaos and he produced a match-winning innings according to his skipper. It was a patient knock that contributed 25 runs to the side’s total, and while that was the fourth-highest individual score of the day, it was by far the most crucial one as he helped get the chase back on track.

Thurston (12) also made a handy contribution before he was caught by Hugh Lennon during the Campbell-bowled 21st over, after which the score was 6-101 as Campbell also bowled Alistair Wheeler (2).

Ford entered the middle and scored 20 runs in a 41-run partnership with Brayshaw to help RSL level the score when they reached 142 in the 34th over.

Nipperess dismissed Brayshaw (25) as Tatts landed one final blow, but Ford scored the winning run during the following over as he finished unbeaten on 21 runs and RSL won the match by seven wickets.

After being temporarily overtaken at the top of the NDCA first grade leading run-scorer tally earlier in the game by Craig, Ford reclaimed his spot as the number one ranked batsman as he finished the day on 203 runs across the first eight rounds of the season, edging out Craig by one.

Craig does lead the competition in the best and fairest tally though as both he and Cooper Brayshaw ended the game on seven points after eight rounds as Brayshaw earned three and Craig was awarded two. The other point went to Doolan, which was his first of the season.

The one day competition now breaks for the T20 campaign, with the NDCA’s Coates Hire Namoi Super Slog campaign beginning this Friday night at Hogan Oval Red ball cricket will make its return on Saturday, February 3, when RSL challenge the Western Razorbacks at Collins Park while Tatts meet Tourist Hotel at Leitch Oval.

The last four regular season games will be played in February ahead of the second versus third preliminary final on Saturday, March 2, and the grand final on Saturday, March 9, which will feature the minor premiers and the preliminary final winners.