Wilga Hotel Razorbacks will enter the Narrabri District Cricket Association 2025/26 campaign first grade one day competition grand final with winning form on their side following a 102-run demolition of Tourist Hotel in the final round of the regular season on Saturday.
The first-versus-last round 15 clash was held at Collins Park, where the Razorbacks batted first after their skipper Jack Tate had won the toss, utilising the full 40 overs to make 6-191 before bowling Tourist Hotel out for just 89 runs in 23 overs.
That win was the Wilga Hotel side’s eighth in nine matches this season and saw them end the campaign on 69 points, two victories clear of the second-placed Tatts (27), who sat out with the bye on Saturday.
The Razorbacks will now get this weekend off ahead of the March 21 grand final while the two preliminary finalists meet on Saturday as Tatts and RSL go head-to-head at Collins Park.
RSL clinched third place with their nail-biting 13-run win over the Boggabri Colts on Saturday.
Two of Wilga Hotel’s leaders were instrumental with the bat during the first innings at Collins Park on Saturday. Matt Bradshaw opened the batting and set the tone with 59 runs from 104 deliveries to lay a platform for his side to set a defendable total, and Tate then finished off the innings with an unbeaten 50 runs from just 28 deliveries to guide the Razorbacks to 6-191.
Angus Galagher (36) was their only teammate to reach double digits in that innings, while Tourist Hotel’s skipper Luke Meppem (3-26 from eight overs) took half of his side’s wickets.
Dylan Smith and Zack Doring opened the bowling for Wilga Hotel in the second innings and combined well to put Tourist Hotel on the ropes at 3-11 after seven overs.
Tourist Hotel’s leading run-scorer, Duncan, was on five runs at that stage and needed just 21 more to go back past Bradshaw to the top of the tally, and he blasted 18 of those from the first three deliveries of the eighth over as three straight maximums in Jay Hall’s first over saw him rocket to 23.
He then scored a single later in that over to go one run behind Bradshaw, and he went past him with two more runs from the second delivery of the Smith-bowled ninth over.
Tourist’s number four batsman eventually top-scored for his team with 46 runs from 51 balls, with his dismissal in the 20th over making the score 7-78.
The chasing side added just 11 more runs to their total before the Razorbacks claimed their final wicket from the final delivery of the 23rd over.
Tim Hayne (14) and Luke Meppem (10) were Duncan’s only teammates to hit double digits in that innings, while six of the seven bowlers used by Wilga Hotel took wickets, with Clay Hoffman (3-6 from two overs) being the pick of them.
The loss saw Tourist Hotel finish the season with the wooden spoon on 33 points, less than a win behind Boggabri (36) and two wins behind RSL (45).
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