Narrabri Colts Cricket Club are champions again after securing a 58-run victory over Tatts in the final of Narrabri District Cricket Association’s 2025/26 season second grade T20 competition at Collins Park on Saturday afternoon.
Less than one year after securing the 2024/25 season one day title in their debut campaign, the Colts secured their first short-format trophy with an impressive team effort, led by two standout performers.
Matt Wall opened the batting and lasted the entire 20 overs at the crease as he anchored the innings with an unbeaten 52 runs before Gus Ford stunned Tatts in the second innings with a dominant display of bowling as he claimed 7-16 from four overs.
Those efforts helped the Colts make 7-111 from their 20 overs before bowling Tatts out for just 53 runs in 14.3 overs to win the decider in style and make it a minor and major premiership double after they finished first on the points ladder.
Making the victory even more impressive was the fact that they earned it without two of their most experienced players, as skipper David McInnes and former skipper Mick Dowdell both did not play.
With the exception of Wall, Gareth Lamond and Brendan and Brady Jenkins, it was a team of teenagers that got the job done, and they were led by Kyne Allen as the Wee Waa youngster stood in at skipper for the absent McInnes, as he has done several times already this season.
The Colts batted first after Allen won the toss, and it was Tatts that got on the front foot early as Jarrod Gould conceded just three runs from the first over before Dillon Hutton bowled a wicket-maiden from the other end, which included the big wicket of Brady Jenkins, who was caught for a third-ball duck.
Tatts were unable to take another wicket until the 11th over, with Brock Allen partnering Wall in the middle and taking the Colts to 1-45 at the halfway mark of the innings.
Their partnership eventually reached 43 runs before Allen (20) was caught by Hutton off the third delivery of the Jake Cooper-bowled 11th over.
Bentley Myers (0), Kyne Allen (2), Brendan Jenkins (0) and Gareth Lamond (5) all then fell cheaply as the Colts found themselves at 6-85 in the 17th over, but some brilliant striking from Wall and a late cameo from George Barton (14) helped get them into triple-digit territory.
Wall eventually finished with 52 runs from 60 deliveries to help the Colts reach 7-111, with his innings providing plenty of entertainment as he struck five fours and two sixes.
All of the six bowlers used by Tatts took at least one wicket, with Gould (2-28 from four overs) the lone multiple wicket-taker on the day for his side.
Kyne Allen took the new ball for the Colts to start the second innings and only gave up three runs before Ford ran in from the other end and conceded 10 runs from his first three deliveries. He was struck for a six by Tatts opener Ryan Steel (10) before he dismissed him with the assistance of a Ryan McConnell catch to make the score 1-13.
That started a huge collapse for the chasing side as Tatts lost 5-3 in the space of 16 deliveries to find themselves struggling at 5-16 after four overs.
Their skipper and standout batsman Jesse Packer replaced Steel and scored one run before being trapped in front by Allen in the third over as the Sign Print Stitch Colts’ stand-in skipper produced a wicket-maiden before Ford bowled Hugh Lennon (1), Denis Harvey (0) and Hutton (0) in the fourth over to decimate Tatts’ top order.
Allen then opted to keep himself and Ford on to see out the first eight overs, and that decision certainly paid off as Allen created pressure with plenty of dot balls from his end while Ford kept the wickets tumbling at the other as he made it 6-21 with a wicket to kick off the sixth over and bowled Josh Rose (2) and Campbell Hancock (0) in the eighth to make the score 8-23.
Those wickets left Michael Hewett and Jake Cooper together at the crease for Tatts, and the duo dug in to form their side’s best partnership of the day. They combined for 28 runs as they looked to guide their side to an unlikely win, but they were both dismissed by George Barton in the 15th over as Hewett fell for 10 before Cooper was caught and bowled by Barton for a team-high 17 to bring the innings to an end.
Ford (7-16 from four overs) was the standout with the ball for the Sign Print Stitch Colts as he produced a player-of-the-match performance, while Barton (2-8 from 2.3 overs) and Allen (1-9 from four overs) claimed the other three as their team secured a memorable 58-run grand final victory to lift the NDCA second grade T20 trophy for the first time in the club’s short history.
The NDCA’s second grade teams will return to the field on Saturday, February 7, when the one day campaign resumes following the Australia Day long weekend bye and a full division bye.
The round eight matches will see the Colts take on Tourist Hotel at Gately Field while Tatts meet RSL at Leitch Oval.
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