Tourist Hotel gets the ball rolling with big win against Razorbacks

The Tourist Hotel Cricket Club first XI got their 2023/24 season on track with a comfortable 90-run victory against the Western Razorbacks in the second round of the Narrabri District Cricket Association campaign at Collins Park on Saturday.

A week after suffering a 33-run round one defeat against defending champs RSL, Tourist Hotel shrugged off the cobwebs to post their first win.

Last season’s grand finalists batted first at Collins Park after winning the toss and they made 170 runs before losing their final wicket in the 40th over of the first innings. In reply, the Razorbacks were only able to reach 80 runs before their final wicket fell during the 31st over of the second innings.

Tourist Hotel’s opening batsmen Nick Tomlinson and Hamish Duncan laid the foundation for the dominant victory with a 56-run first-wicket partnership that was broken in the 10th over when Duncan (25) was bowled by Kyne Allen.

Tomlinson lost five more partners during his time at the crease, including Lachlan Woolford who was run out by Matt Bradshaw for a diamond duck, before the gun opener was eventually dismissed for a game-high score of 60 from the first ball of the 28th over.

That wicket made the score 7-124, and then Jason Paull (8) and Adam Gordon (8) departed to leave Dylan Segundo and Harry Pattison in the middle together for the final-wicket partnership.

That duo combined for 35 runs to get their side to 170 before Segundo (22) was stumped by Dylan Smith in the Kyne Allen-bowled 40th over and the innings came to its conclusion with Pattison unbeaten on 12.

Western Razorbacks’ best with the ball was Josh Schwager with 3-31 off nine overs, while Allen (2-25 off 6.2 overs) and Greg Melton (2-33 off nine overs) claimed two wickets each and Ben Hjort (1-38 from nine overs) took one. Bradshaw and skipper Dylan Smith both chipped in with one run out each as well.

The Razorbacks’ chase got off to a less-than-ideal start as Tourist Hotel’s opening bowler Jye Manton bowled a maiden first up and then teammate Segundo followed that up with three dot balls before bowling Dystyn Allen for a duck to make the score 1-0.

The second-wicket partnership was the Wee Waa-based side’s best of the day as Ben Sevil and Smith put on 31 runs together, but they departed in quick succession as Sevil (12) was trapped in front by Duncan and Smith (17) was bowled by Manton.

That made the score 3-31, which became 4-52 when Schwager was caught by Harry Pattison as Duncan claimed his second wicket of the day.

The chasing side eventually got to 62 runs before losing 4-3 as Gordon ripped apart the middle order with the wickets of Bradshaw (15), Melton (5) and Kyne Allen (0), and also Matt Conroy bowling Will Brennan (0) during the 28th over.

It was all over by the 31st over when Conroy took the final two wickets to bring the innings to a close, with the Razorbacks on 80 runs.

Gordon finished with a team-best 3-4 off four overs and Conroy also claimed three scalps as he ended up with 3-24 off seven overs.

The other three bowlers used by the winning side all claimed at least one wicket as Duncan (2-5 off six overs) finished with two and Segundo (1-10 off five overs) and Manton (1-34 off nine overs) took one each.

The victory saw Tourist Hotel join Tatts on eight points as they both finished a win behind ladder leaders RSL (14 points) and a win ahead of Western Razorbacks (two points).

The Razorbacks will go in search of their first win of the campaign at Collins Park this Saturday when they challenge the undefeated RSL, who beat Tatts by six wickets at Leitch Oval in round two after chasing down 121 runs in less than 24 overs, having only lost four batsmen.

The other round three contest will see Tatts and Tourist Hotel battle it out at Leitch Oval for the chance to go outright second, and potentially move to the top of the table.