Three Narrabri and District Cricket Association players recently travelled to Port Macquarie where they lined up for the Northern Inland Bolters at the Cricket NSW Plan B Regional Bash T20 tournament.
Western Razorbacks captain Dylan Smith and RSL duo Nathan Trindall and Cooper Brayshaw all represented the region at the state-wide tournament, which sees the top four teams out of the 16 that take part travel to the Sydney Cricket Ground to contest the finals.
The Bolters will not be one of those sides this season after finishing third on the Pool A ladder following a win and two losses across the weekend.
The Northern Inland team was grouped alongside Coffs Coast Chargers, Macquarie Coast Stingers and Northern Rivers Rock in the pool stage and played all three of its games at Oxley Oval.
The first of those matches was contested on Saturday afternoon when the Bolters took on the Stingers.
The Macquarie Coast side batted first after being sent in by the Bolters, and it batted out the 20 overs to finish with 8-123. In reply, the Northern Inland men could only reach 9-110 as they fell 14 runs short of victory.
Trindall was one of the Bolters’ best with the ball in that match as he claimed 3-21 from four overs. Gunnedah’s Troy Sands (3-18 from four overs) was the only other wicket-taker, and former Tatts player Jelany Chilia threw one of the side’s two runouts.
The Bolters’ second game was played against Coffs Coast on Sunday morning, and again they won the toss and bowled.
The Chargers batted out the 20 overs and reached 8-141 before knocking over the Northern Inland side for 107 in 18.2 overs.
Trindall (2-21 from four overs) and Sands (3-32 from four overs) starred for the Bolters again with the ball in the first innings.
The Northern Inland men went into their third and final match on Sunday afternoon against Northern Rivers Rock playing for pride and not to rank last on the pool ladder.
They got the job done with a 42-run win after being sent into bat first and making 4-176 before restricting the chasing side to 5-134.
The other match on Sunday afternoon was a battle for top spot. Coffs Coast Chargers and Macquarie Coast Stingers went into that clash having both won their two previous matches, and it was the Chargers that got the job done.
They won the toss and batted first and reached 2-145 in 20 overs before restricting the Stingers to 8-107 in 20 overs.
That saw Coffs Coast top the pool with 12 points, Macquarie Coast place second with eight points, the Bolters finish third with four points, and Northern Rivers Rock finish fourth with no points.
Chair of Country Cricket and Cricket NSW board member Paul Marjoribanks praised the competition and its partner.
“The Plan B Regional Bash is one of the more exciting initiatives in Country Cricket,” Marjoribanks said.
“The competition sends a strong message of road safety across regional NSW with teams often travelling long distances to play, and the reminder to always have a Plan B and arrive home safely.”
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