Tatts end the NDCA first grade T20 season on a high

Tatts Cricket Club’s first grade team will be looking to capitalise on a big win on Saturday night when Narrabri District Cricket Association’s one day season resumes later this month.

Jakeb Nipperess’ men entered the sixth and final round of the T20 comp winless in their past eight matches in all competitions, but they snapped that streak in style with a 31-run win over the short format minor premiers RSL.

Nipperess won the toss at Hogan Oval and elected to bat, and his side made 9-107 after lasting the entire 20 overs at the crease. They then bowled out RSL for 76 runs in 18.3 overs to become the first team in the T20 competition to beat the top-ranked side.

The victory was Tatts’ second of the campaign after they won their season opener back in October, and it saw them join Tourist Hotel and the Wilga Hotel Razorbacks on 21 points to end the regular season after the Razorbacks were victorious at Collins Park.

However, net run rate saw the Wilga men earn second place and the grand final spot alongside RSL as Tourist Hotel and Tatts were forced to settle for third and fourth, respectively.

Tatts are winless in five games after six rounds of the one day comp, one of which was a washout, and they will draw on their efforts against RSL at Hogan Oval when that campaign gets back underway on February 15.

They must get the job done in all three of their remaining matches to clinch third place and qualify for the preliminary final.

Tatts welcomed back Jake Packer to their lineup for Saturday’s round six clash and he made an instant impact in his first T20 match of the season. The former Tatts skipper opened the batting and scored a match-best 46 runs.

He lost two partners as Nipperess (3) was caught behind by RSL keeper Zaac Brayshaw in the Jarrett Tough-bowled sixth over before Rod Kirk (8) was caught by Cooper Brayshaw off the bowling of Will Ford in the 11th over.

Tatts were 1-60 at the halfway mark, but Kirk’s dismissal made the score 2-64 and it then became 3-70 in the 12th when Ford caught Packer off the bowling of Kember.

A 20-run partnership between Tom Cameron and Eben Botha took Tatts to 3-90 in the 16th over, but RSL then regrouped and took 6-17 from the last 25 deliveries of the innings to restrict Tatts to a chaseable 9-107.

Eben Botha (21) was Packer’s only teammate to reach double figures, while Tough was RSL’s best with the ball with an economical 3-14 off four overs.

RSL got off to a flying start to the second innings as Jonty Schwager’s opening over went for 10 runs, but Brodie Heron brought the chasing side down to earth when he produced a wicket-maiden in the second over to remove Tough (8) with the assistance of a Waldo Botha catch.

Schwager struck with his first wicket of the game in the fifth over when he bowled Jordan Doolan for a nine-ball duck before Heron took two more in the sixth over as he knocked over Ford (5) and Kember (0).

RSL were struggling at 4-19 when Kember departed, but Max Hunter and Cooper Brayshaw combined for the side’s best partnership as they put on 30 together to take them to 4-49. That was broken in the 11th over as Nipperess bowled out Brayshaw for a team-best 17 runs, and the innings unravelled from there as Hunter lost five more partners while RSL scored just 27 more runs.

Hunter ended up unbeaten with 15 runs after Schwager bowled out Beau Tomlinson (1) in the 19th over to bring the innings to a close as RSL finished on 76 runs.

Heron was Tatts’ best with a ball as he finished with a phenomenal 4-4 from four overs, which included two wicket-maidens. That saw him become Tatts’ joint-top wicket-taker in the T20 campaign with seven alongside Josh Campbell. They both finished one wicket back from RSL’s Ford and Kember and the Wilga Razorbacks’ Greg Melton, who all topped the tally with eight.

Schwager (2-16 from four overs) and Cameron (2-11 from two overs) both claimed two scalps each on the night and their teammates Kirk (1-11 from four overs) and Nipperess (1-15 from four overs) took one each.

Packer was awarded the three NDCA best and fairest points for a standout performance with the bat, and Heron and Tough picked up two and one, respectively, for their efforts with the ball.