RSL scores win over Tatts to stay on top with just one round remaining

The equation is quite simple for the Narrabri RSL Cricket Club first grade side heading into the 12th and final round of the 2022/23 Narrabri District Cricket Association season one day competition – win to secure the minor premiership and the automatic grand final qualification.

RSL is chasing a third consecutive minor/major premiership double this season and it took a significant step towards achieving the first half of that in round 11 on Saturday when it beat Tatts by three wickets at Leitch Oval.

It certainly got far too close for the side’s captain Jarrett Tough’s liking as the defending champions lost seven wickets in their pursuit of a double-digit total.

Tatts batted first in that game after Tough won the toss and sent them in, and RSL bowled the third-placed side out for just 80 runs in 33.3 overs. A collapse that saw RSL lose 6-24 when it was cruising at 1-54 brought the top-ranked team down to earth in timely fashion with the finals right around the corner, but it did manage to get the job done.

Tough’s men will go head-to-head with Western Razorbacks at Leitch Oval in round 12 this weekend, and if it wins that match, its next game will be on grand final day on March 11.

Even if it loses, the best that second-placed Tourist Hotel can finish is level on competition points with RSL, and then runs for and against and wickets taken and lost would come into play.

For that to happen, the Tourist men would need to win against Tatts at Collins Park in round 12.

Tourist Hotel did keep its minor premiership hopes alive in round 11 when it beat the Razorbacks at Collins Park, but RSL’s destiny is in its own hands.

Saturday’s round 11 match at Leitch Oval saw RSL deal the first blow when Cooper Brayshaw bowled Tatts’ Jakeb Nipperess (6) in over number four as the score became 1-7.

Tatts then lost back-to-back wickets when Brayshaw knocked over Eben Botha (5) in the 10th over and Cody Kember dismissed Tom Craig (3) in the 11th over.

Those two Tatts batsmen were both caught as the score became 3-21.

Tatts then went into the 15-over drinks break at 3-33, and the blows kept coming when Travis Tilse (9) was bowled by Kember in the 17th over as the score became 4-40.

Opening batsman Sid Harvey was still at the crease at that stage and he eventually reached a team-best 16 runs before he was caught by Jake Thurston in the Tough-bowled 20th over. Tough also dismissed Guy Gleeson (14) during that over, and the score became 6-57 when the Tatts batsman was caught by Bernard O’Connor.

Kember then claimed his third scalp in the 27th over when he bowled Tom Cameron (1) before Nathan Trindall dismissed Waldo Botha (5) in the 29th over when Shane Murphy took his second catch of the day.

Tatts went into the 30-over drinks break struggling at 8-74, and the side was only able to add six more runs after play resumed as Brayshaw took the final two wickets in the 34th over when he bowled Ryan Steel (12) and Campbell Hancock (0).

Tom Nolan (3*) remained unbeaten for Tatts.

Brayshaw (4-13 from 6.3 overs) was RSL’s best with the ball, and his teammates Kember (3-22 from nine overs), Tough (2-11 from two overs), and Trindall (1-14 from eight overs) took the side’s other wickets.

Tatts needed an early wicket to have any chance of winning the game and it found one just three overs into the second innings when RSL opener Jake Brayshaw (0) was caught behind by Tilse from the bowling of Harvey.

That made the score 1-9, but RSL regrouped and was 1-54 after 10 overs.

From there, Tatts went on a rampage as it took advantage of some poor RSL batting to take 6-24 and put itself in a position to win the game.

Craig took three of those wickets when he dismissed O’Connor (7) in the 11th over, Murphy (2) in the 15th over and Tough (2) in the 19th over.

Kember (22) and Jordan Doolan (27) also departed among those wickets as Kember was caught by Craig in the Nipperess-bowled 12th over and Doolan was run out by Waldo Botha in the 15th over.

Craig’s third wicket made the score 6-77 in the 19th over, which became 7-78 in the 20th when Harvey caught Will Ford (1) on the boundary after the RSL batsman tried to go the aerial route with a Waldo Botha delivery.

Hadley Sevil was next in and he very well could have ended up as Tatts’ eighth scalp, however, he was dropped behind the stumps from the bowling of Botha in the 20th over.

Cooper Brayshaw found himself on strike for the start of the Craig-bowled 21st over and the RSL all-rounder struck a four down the ground to bring the game to a close.

Brayshaw earned three NDCA best and fairest points for his starring role in the three-wicket win, while Kember was awarded two and Craig picked up one.