Tourist Hotel’s first XI survives a scare against Tatts to earn first 40-over victory

A low-scoring contest that produced just five boundaries turned out to be a thriller on Saturday as Tourist Hotel survived a late scare to defeat Tatts by two wickets at Collins Park.

The two sides were both looking to bounce back from opening-round losses in the Narrabri District Cricket Association 2024/25 campaign first grade one day competition, and Tatts elected to bat first after their stand-in skipper Brendon Ward won the toss ahead of the round two clash.

His side made 94 runs in 27.2 overs as they overcame a horror start that saw them struggling at 5-9 after five overs, and Tourist Hotel eventually reached the required total in 29.1 overs after they lost 4-21 towards the back-end of their innings as the Tatts men hunted an unlikely win.

It was a much-needed victory for Tourist Hotel after they were beaten by 90 runs against RSL a week earlier in round one, while Tatts are winless in the 40-over arena following their nine-wicket round one defeat at the hands of the Wilga Hotel Razorbacks.

The Tatts innings on Saturday was almost a carbon copy of the one they produced against Wilga. Their first five partnerships against Tourist Hotel contributed just nine runs after they added 21 in round one, and the innings was again boosted by a strong sixth-wicket partnership, which was 70 in round two compared to 40 in round one. Just like the first game though, the innings fell apart for Tatts when that partnership was broken as the final four added 15 runs to the scoreboard, down from 17 a week earlier.

Tourist Hotel quick Dylan Segundo did the bulk of the damage in that innings as he produced a double-wicket-maiden in his second over and then claimed three more scalps in his third to make the score 5-9 after five overs.

He knocked over Hugh Lennon (2), Josh Campbell (0), Ed Currall (5), Waldo Botha (0), and Brendon Ward (0) before Rod Kirk and Jake Packer arrived at the crease and steered the ship with Tatts’ largest partnership of the season.

Kirk (34) was eventually run out for a team-high score as Packer remained at the crease and pushed Tatts towards triple digits.

They never managed to get there though as Josh Trindall knocked over Packer (25) in the 27th over with the assistance of a Segundo catch before trapping Guy Gleeson in front LBW and bowling Bill Wood, both for ducks.

Tourist’s captain Luke Meppem introduced himself into the bowling attack in the 28th over and he brought the innings to an end with his second delivery as Brodie Heron became the fifth Tatts player to depart for a duck when he was caught by Jason Paull.

Craig Gleeson ended up unbeaten on four runs as Tatts set Tourist Hotel 95 to chase.

Segundo was Tourist’s best with the ball on the day as he took a game-best 5-29 from his six overs. Trindall (3-14 from five overs), Meppem (1-1 from 0.2 overs) and an Ed Pavey runout contributed the other five wickets.

Hamish Duncan (0-10 off five overs) and Danny Laws (0-23 off eight overs) both went wicketless but they were economically imposing, which helped keep Tatts to a double-digit total.

Tourist Hotel’s chase got off to a lacklustre start as Heron bowled a maiden against Nick Tomlinson in the first over before Dylan Brown bowled Duncan for a duck in the second.

Heron then dismissed Lachlan Woolford (1) with the assistance of a Wood catch to make the score 2-20 after five overs, which was 3-40 after 14 when Paull (10) was caught behind by Craig Gleeson as Campbell claimed his first scalp of the day.

Tomlinson lost his fourth partner in the 16th over when Campbell bowled Chase Harrington (1), but the Tourist Hotel opener continued to anchor the innings as he and Meppem combined for the side’s best partnership of the day as they put on 23 together.

Tatts got themselves back in the match as Packer bowled Tomlinson (28) in the 21st over and Campbell bowled Trindall (2) in the 22nd as the score became 6-74.

Meppem and Segundo then put on 15 runs together to guide the chasing side within seven runs of victory, but the contest continued to see-saw as Packer knocked over Segundo (9) and Pavey (2) to make the score 8-91 in the 29th.

It was a nervous end to the match for Tourist Hotel but they got the job done as a patient effort from Meppem (16*) paid off.

Laws ended up unbeaten on one run at the other end, and Tatts’ best with the ball was Campbell (3-21 from six overs).

The three NDCA best and fairest points went to Segundo for a brilliant effort with the ball in the first innings, and the two and one went to Kirk and Tomlinson, respectively, for both of their performances with the bat.

Tatts will go looking to bounce back from two consecutive losses in round three this Saturday when they meet fellow round two losers RSL at Collins Park, while Tourist Hotel get a chance to post back-to-back victories for the first time this season when they challenge the undefeated Wilga Hotel Razorbacks in a day/nighter at Hogan Oval.