Narrabri District Cricket Association’s three-time defending first grade one day competition champions Tatts no longer has the chance to make it four in a row this season after losing a must-win match against Civeo on Saturday.
The two sides met in their round 14 clash at Leitch Oval, where Civeo scored its biggest win of the season.
It downed Tatts by 145 runs after making 9-219 then bowling the last-placed side out for just 74.
The loss left Tatts 12 points adrift of third-placed Western Razorbacks with just one match remaining.
While the battle for third place is now over, the race to first place is still well and truly alive.
Civeo entered round 14 locked on 64 points with RSL, but trailed the top-ranked side on runs scored and conceded and wickets taken and lost percentage.
RSL was also victorious in round 14, winning by four wickets against the Razorbacks at Collins Park.
The two sides are now on 71 points each heading into the 15th and final round of the regular season on Saturday.
RSL is scheduled to take on Tatts at Leitch Oval while Civeo is set to meet the Western Razorbacks at Collins Park.
A win will secure RSL the minor premiership and a grand final spot, as would losses for both of the top two sides. Civeo can finish first if it beats the Razorbacks and RSL goes down against Tatts.
Civeo’s round 14 win on Saturday saw the side bounce back in style after it went down against RSL in round 11 on January 30.
The next two rounds were washed out, but Civeo showed no signs of rust in a 145-run win.
While the victory was Civeo’s biggest of the season, the impressive 9-219 was not even its largest total of the campaign.
That came back in round six when the side batted first and scored 9-221 in a 54-run win against RSL.
The side’s co-captain Lachlan Cameron blasted the only century of the season that day when he
produced a knock of 101, and he almost reached triple figures again in round 14.
Cameron totalled 97 against Tatts before he was bowled by Tatts young gun Sid Harvey in the 39th over. Cameron’s innings included five fours and four sixes.
Civeo’s opening batsman Nick Smart (71) did the damage alongside Cameron. Smart was joined by Cameron in the fifth over after the batting side lost Nick Tomlinson (0) and Matt Conroy (5) early.
Smart and Cameron then combined for a 184-run partnership which lasted more than 31 overs.
Civeo went into the 30-over drinks break dominating the game at 2-150, then Craig Gleeson broke the partnership when Smart was caught on the long-on boundary by Daniel Kahl.
That made the score 3-194 and started a collapse which saw the batting side lose 7-26.
Harvey (3-21 from six overs) was Tatts’ best with the ball. Teammate and debutant James Keys (3-34 from eight overs) also finished with three scalps, while skipper Ryan O’Neill (1-22 from nine overs) and Gleeson (1-26 from four overs) took one each.
The defending champions started their chase on the front foot as openers Kahl and Luke Morgan combined for 25 runs in the first six overs.
Morgan scored just three of those and was the first to fall when he was bowled by Jordyn Mowle from the first ball of the first over.
Civeo celebrated its second wicket in the ninth over when Gleeson (12) was run out by Smart.
By the 15-over drinks break, Kahl had lost four more partners and the score was 6-59.
Civeo’s Sam Bullen took three of those wickets, dismissing Harvey (0), O’Neill (1) and Jakeb Nipperess (2) before Mowle bowled Brendon Ward (2).
At the end of the 18th over, the score was 6-66 after Bullen (3-37 from nine overs) and Mowle (2-26 from nine overs) had both been bowled out.
Jock Small replaced Mowle and immediately delivered with a wicket-maiden which included the key scalp of Kahl who was caught by Smart for a team-best 37.
Civeo’s leading wicket-taker Jade Lees (2-4 from 1.3 overs) cleaned up the tail, dismissing Schwager (0) in the 20th over and Charlie Simkin (7) in the 22nd.
Small finished with 1-3 from two overs.
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