Tatts stays on top as Cain and Craig dominate

The Tatts Cricket Club first XI remained on top of the Narrabri District Cricket Association first grade ladder after securing its fourth win of the 2019-20 season on Saturday.

Tatts went head-to-head with RSL at Leitch Oval and was victorious by 24 runs.

Tatts skipper Tom Craig won the toss and elected to bat and it was the captain who led the way, top scoring for Tatts for the fifth time in his fifth match this season.

Craig’s 60 runs, combined with opener Jacob Nichols’ 49, helped Tatts post a solid total of 156 in 38.1 overs.

RSL then fell 25 runs short of the required total for victory, reaching 132 before losing its final two wickets in the Michael Cain-bowled 36th over.

RSL had established a score of 6-115 during the 32nd over and with some quality batsmen still left in the middle and waiting to enter, Cain took the final four wickets to finish with a match best 5-35 from 8.3 overs and earn his team the victory.

Tatts’ innings started on the front foot as Nichols scored 11 runs in the first two overs to help his team move to 0-12.

Fellow opener Daniel Kahl scored the other run, a single from the first ball of the match.

Kahl found himself on strike at the start of the Nathan Trindall-bowled third over, but with the second ball the Tatts opener was trapped in front for one.

Craig Gleeson entered at number three for Tatts and added seven runs before he was caught by RSL captain Mick Dowdell in the Cooper Brayshaw-bowled 11th over which made the score 2-39.

That wicket saw Craig partner Nichols in the middle, and the Tatts captain made his intentions clear early as he got off the mark with a boundary from his second ball.

Craig and Nichols put on a 48-run partnership which was broken when Nichols (49) was bowled by the second delivery of a Cody Kember wicket-maiden in the 19th over.

Tatts middle order batsmen Jake Packer (5) and Jakeb Nipperess (15) added a combined 20 runs, but both fell while Craig continued to build his large total at the other end as Tatts’ score became 5-139 after 32 overs.

Two overs later the captain departed for a match-high 60 runs, caught by Kember from the bowling of Dowdell.

That made the score 6-142, and Tatts added just 14 more runs as it lost its final four wickets to post its 156-run total.

Three RSL bowlers claimed multiple wickets, with Dowdell (2-10 from two overs), Hamish Duncan (2-11 from six overs) and Trindall (2-20 off 5.1 overs) all taking two each.

To start its innings RSL scored at three an over for the first five overs to make the score 0-15.

In the sixth over of the innings Cain claimed his team’s first scalp when he bowled RSL opener Chris Watkins (4) during a wicket-maiden to make the score 1-15.

Fellow opener Duncan was partnered by Shane Murphy and the pair established a 34-run partnership to make the score 1-49 after 14 overs.

However the pair did not make it to drinks together as Murphy (8) was trapped in front by Jonty Schwager in the 15th over.

That brought Kember to the crease who scored seven runs before the drinks break to make the score 2-56.

Kember added 16 more runs after drinks before he became the third victim of the innings, caught and bowled by Gleeson in the 22nd over which made the score 3-80.

That then became 4-80 in the 23rd when Duncan was bowled by Schwager for a team-best 29.

Those wickets left Cooper Brayshaw at the crease with Jarrett Tough and the pair put on a 14-run partnership to edge the chasing side towrads 100.

However, in the 28th over Gleeson delivered a double blow with a double-wicket-maiden when he bowled Brayshaw (5) and dismissed Luke Barton (0) who was caught by Cain.

Those two wickets took RSL from 4-94 to 6-94 still requiring 63 runs to win.

The chasing team managed just 38 of those as Cain bowled Neil Brayshaw (6) in the 32nd over, Tough (22) in the 34th over and Dowdell (3) and Trindall (2) in the 36th.

Those scalps saw Cain finish with 5-35 from 8.3 overs, with teammates Gleeson (3-12 from six overs) and Schwager (2-35 from 8.3 overs) taking the other five.

Cain earned three NDCA best and fairest points for his efforts with the ball and Craig secured the two for his brilliance with the bat.

The one point went to RSL’s top scorer Duncan.