The Narrabri District Junior Cricket Association under-13s representative side celebrated a memorable win in the opening round of Central North’s George Denton Shield competition on Sunday.
The NDJCA boys travelled to Inverell and took on the hosts at McCosker Oval, where they prevailed by 12 runs in a high-scoring contest.
The visitors batted first after winning the toss and they registered 194 runs before losing their final wicket with one ball remaining in their 40-over innings.
They then bowled Inverell out for 182 runs in 38 overs to return home with four points and ranked third on the six-team ladder.
Coach and NDJCA chairman Luke Baker told The Courier that he was proud of his team, who were joined by three players from Inverell’s under-11s team as they had eight available to make the trip.
“They played amazing as a team and everyone did their job,” Baker said.
“We only went over there with eight players, but Inverell were nice enough to give us three of their younger boys to make a game of it.
“We’ve got a well-rounded team. We have batters and bowlers and good fielders too. We’ve got everything we need.
“We had a few players away too, who were busy or injured.”
While it was a brilliant team effort from the NDJCA side, Angus Irwin was a standout with the bat as he opened and finished unbeaten on 66 runs following an innings that saw him smash 13 boundaries.
Blair Lennox then excelled during the second innings as he claimed four wickets and two catches.
The Narrabri side has been placed in tier two of the under-13s competition alongside Inverell, Gunnedah, Moree, Armidale and Coalfields. Moree and Armidale won the other two games on Sunday to join Narrabri on four points.
Each team will play all opponents once each across a five-round season before the two top-ranked sides meet in the decider on Sunday, February 23, next year.
Narrabri will host their next match as they welcome Gunnedah to town in round two on Sunday, November 17.
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