RSL through to NDCA’s first grade finals series following nail-biter against Boggabri

Narrabri RSL Cricket Club’s first XI will get a chance to defend their Narrabri District Cricket Association title if they are victorious against Tatts in Saturday’s preliminary final following a crucial round 15 victory against Boggabri Colts.

The five-time defending champions travelled out to Jubilee Oval for the final-round encounter on Saturday, well aware that a loss would have seen them slip to fourth and miss out on a spot in the finals, and it looked like it was headed that way late in the second innings.

Jarrett Tough’s side batted first after he had won the toss, and they made 104 runs in 37.2 overs after they found themselves struggling at 6-56 during that innings.

Boggabri Colts looked set to crash out of their maiden campaign at one stage as the scoreboard read 6-37, but a 52-run partnership between Ben Haire and Chris Campbell got them back on track.

The Colts were 6-89 during the 29th over and needed just 16 runs to win with plenty of overs and four wickets in hand, however, experienced RSL duo Nathan Trindall and Tough claimed two wickets each to secure the victory for their side and earn a spot in the preliminary final.

Trindall’s two scalps in the 29th over saw him finish the contest with his own personal-best figures of 6-14 from seven overs, which not only secured him three NDCA best and fairest points but also saw him end the campaign as the top wicket-taker in first grade with 23 after he had entered the weekend trailing Tatts’ Rod Kirk (19) and level with Kirk’s teammate Jonty Schwager (17), who both sat out with the round 15 bye.

Trindall had starred with the bat earlier in the match, producing an equally as important effort as he scored a late and unbeaten run-a-ball 24 after entering at number nine with his team struggling at 7-65 in the 35th over.

Trindall’s knock included a four and a six, and it helped guide his side to a defendable triple-digit total.

Tough opened the batting and top-scored for RSL with 27, and Jordan Doolan (11) was the only other RSL batsman to reach double digits.

The Colts used nine bowlers during that first innings and six of them took wickets, with Matt Avendano (3-8 from 6.2 overs) and his skipper Cody Kember (3-16 from eight overs) the two standouts.

Trindall and Andrew Harvey (2-33 from eight overs) opened the bowling for RSL and had both taken two wickets each inside the first eight overs to leave the chasing side struggling at 4-22.

Trindall then made it 5-26 in the ninth over as Alin Chhantyal became the fifth RSL player to take a catch, which became 6-37 in the 11th over when Trindall took a catch off his own bowling to secure the big wicket of Kember (4).

The game looked well and truly in the bag for RSL at that stage before Haire (27) and Campbell (26) swung the momentum back in Boggabri’s favour with a brilliant partnership that could not be broken for more than 17 overs and produced 52 runs.

Boggabri looked set to get the job done and set up a date with Tatts in the preliminary final, but Trindall and Tough delivered with big wickets when their side needed them most.

Trindall dismissed Haire with the assistance of a Tim Shields catch in the 29th over and bowled Nick Millar for a second-ball duck to make the score 8-89, and Tough then bowled Campbell with the first delivery of the 30th as the Colts all of a sudden had just one wicket in hand to chase down the 16 runs they needed to win.

They only managed two of those before Tough bowled Rabjir Singh (1) with the final ball of the 30th over to bring the contest to an end.

The other round 15 match on Saturday was contested at Collins Park in Narrabri, where the Wilga Hotel Razorbacks ended their minor premiership-winning campaign on a high with a 102-run victory against Tourist Hotel.

The victory was their eighth in nine matches this season and saw them finish on 69 points, two wins clear of Tatts (57) and four wins clear of RSL (45).

Tourist Hotel’s loss was their eighth in 11 matches and saw them end the campaign in last place with 33 points. A win would have seen them climb above fourth-placed Boggabri (36), but the Colts held on to fourth place.