Razorbacks storm into their second straight grand final

The Western Imperial Razorbacks’ first XI stormed into the 2019-20 Narrabri District Cricket Association 45-over grand final following a remarkable one-run preliminary final win against Civeo at the weekend.

In that game, which was played at Hogan Oval on Saturday, the Razorbacks batted first and made 8-147 from 45 overs before limiting the chasing side to 5-146 to win a game which came down to the final delivery.

Ty Baker took the ball for the final over with Civeo needing just four runs to win, and the club president limited the chasing side to just two of those required runs.

Civeo needed two runs to win from the final delivery, however one run would have still secured Civeo a grand final spot as in the event of a tied game the top-ranked side progresses.

But Baker stood tall, bowling a dot ball which won his team the game.

While the choice to bowl Baker during that last over turned out to be a match-winning one, he was not initially planned to.

There was an unexpected hurdle for the Razorbacks at the end of the game, with gun bowler Smith having already completed his nine overs unbeknownst to Knight.

“It was a crazy finish,” Knight told The Courier.

“It was a good close game, and it was good to finally win a close one.

“I was planning on having Dylan (Smith) for the last over if it got there but obviously I calculated wrong.

“We didn’t even know who was going to bowl the last over and Ty said ‘pass me the ball’ and he took control and got the job done.”

The Razorbacks batted first in Saturday’s game and started slowly.

Opening batsman Hadley Sevil struggled to find any rhythm early and was eventually dismissed in the 14th over for eight runs from 55 balls.

The Razorbacks went into the 15-over drinks break at 1-37, then lost 3-46 in the second session as Sevil’s opening batting partner Baker (25), number three batsman Knight (27) and number five batsman Toby Reynolds (3) all departed.

Two overs after the drinks break the Razorbacks’ innings went from bad to worse when Josh Trindall (3) was dismissed which made the score 5-87 before Zack Doring (8) became Chris Sargent’s third victim in the 34th over which made the score 6-90.

Those wickets left Hall and Smith in the middle together and the pair combined for a team-best 37-run partnership.

Hall scored 15 of those before he was bowled by Smart in the 44th over.

With one over remaining the score was 7-127, but Smith was determined to smash his side as close to 150 as he could.

In the Jordyn Mowle-bowled last over Smith hit a pair of twos then a six and a four before he was caught on the boundary with one ball remaining.

Tim Cameron faced that final delivery and struck a six to make the final score 8-147.

Sargent was Civeo’s best with the ball with 3-21 from nine overs.

Civeo’s opening batsman Smart was the only top order to make a significant contribution.

He scored 36 before he was bowled by Knight in the 21st over which made the score 3-66 after Nick Tomlinson (0) and Matt Conroy (4) were both trapped in front by Smith earlier in the innings.

Civeo only lost two more wickets, with Luke Meppem (0) trapped in front by Trindall in the 22nd over and Tim Hayne (2) caught by Trindall in the Knight-bowled 26th over.

Cameron (70*) and Sargent (21*) combined for a 63-run partnership which lasted more than 19 overs, however the pair fell agonisingly short in the final over.

Smith and Knight were the winning team’s only multiple wicket takers, both finishing with 2-26 from nine overs.

The Razorbacks’ win set up a grand final rematch for the Wee Waa-based side against defending champions Tatts.

Those two sides met in the 2018-19 decider which Tatts won by 92 runs.

The two teams will go head-to-head at Collins Park this Saturday afternoon.