Razorbacks hammer Civeo to continue momentum

The Western Imperial Razorbacks’ first XI scored a second straight win in the Narrabri District Cricket Association first grade one day competition on Saturday when it defeated Civeo Cricket Club by 96 runs.

The round three match was played at Leitch Oval and saw the Razorbacks bat first after Civeo won the toss and sent its opposition in.

The Wee Waa-based team scored 187 runs before losing its final wicket in the 42nd over.

The Razorbacks then restricted the Civeo side to just 91 runs before taking the 10th and final wicket in the 28th over of the game’s second innings.

The dominant performance flowed through to the best and fairest points, with three Razorbacks men taking home the points.

Young gun Zack Doring was awarded the three points after scoring a game-best 37 runs from the number nine position.

Skipper Justin Knight finished with 7-21 from nine overs and picked up two points, while Tim Cameron earned the one after scoring an impressive 29 runs after entering the middle at number 10.

Razorbacks club president and first grade player Ty Baker said his side was playing with confidence after losing its first round match before posting back-to-back wins.

“We got off to a bit of a shaky start in the first game while trying to get back to the cricket mindset,” he said.

“But the last two games we got a lot of runs, one past and one near 200.

“We are playing with confidence and if we keep performing with the bat we should get to the grand final and hopefully go one better than last year.”

Baker said that he was impressed with Doring’s innings despite the youngster playing with an injury.

“He batted really good for us, that was his first or second game in first grade,” Baker said.

“He didn’t really run between the wickets because he had a sore knee, he sort of teed off, well he didn’t go straight away but when he did he hit them well.

“He has really good hand eye coordination, when he gets a bit older he will be a real threat in first grade.”

Baker added said that the wicket suited Knight’s style of bowling and the skipper made the most of it.

“The wicket got a little bit worse as the day went on,” he said.

“The end he was bowling to played up and it suited him and that showed.”

The Razorbacks lost two early wickets when Baker (2) and Daniel Hamilton (1) were both caught from the bowling of Joel Hogan in the fourth and sixth overs respectively.

However opener Hadley Sevil (30), fourth batsman Knight (10) and middle order batsmen Toby Reynolds (16) and Josh Trindall (34) all reached double figures to help the Razorbacks get past 100 runs in the 26th over and head towards a defendable total.

But the side lost three quick wickets and after 30 overs the score was 8-115.

That left Doring at the crease with Cameron and the pair combined for a 10-over partnership that took the Razorbacks past 180.

But Doring (37) and Cameron (29) were both caught out late in the innings, Doring was the last to go in the 42nd over.

Civeo’s best with the ball was Joel Hogan who took 3-47 from nine overs, while Tim Shields impressed with 2-8 from five overs.

Civeo’s Nick Tomlinson and Mitch Foster opened the batting together. Foster made three runs before he was run out by Trindall in the sixth over which made the score 1-12.

Tomlinson was joined in the middle by Jake Thurston and the pair advanced the score to 1-32 after 11 overs with a 20-run partnership.

However Thurston (12) became the first casualty of a Razorbacks double-wicket-maiden in the Knight-bowled 12th over.

Thurston was caught by Peter Doring before Tim Shields entered and was run out for a duck.

That made the score 3-32 and it was one-way traffic for the rest of the innings as Knight spun his way to a season-best 7-21.

Civeo’s Matt Conroy (22*) was the only other batsman to reach double figures but he lost five partners on the way to his side’s demise.

Baker (1-27 from six overs) was the Razorbacks’ only other wicket taker, with the other two wickets being taken via runouts.

The Razorbacks will go hunting for a third straight victory when they take on fellow round three winners Tatts in round four in what is scheduled to be the first game of the season played on Hogan Oval this Saturday.

In the other game Civeo will be determined to bounce back from its round three loss when it meets RSL in the sides’ round four clash at Collins Park.