NDCA second grade defending champs bounce back from round one loss with a seven-wicket win

Narrabri RSL Cricket Club’s second XI put a frustrating opening round loss behind them on Saturday when they scored a dominant seven-wicket win against Tatts at Cooma Oval during round two of Narrabri District Cricket Association’s 2023/24 campaign.

Tatts batted first in the grand final rematch after captain Jesse Packer won the toss, and the side had a day to forget as they made 37 runs before losing their final wicket in what was their first innings of the season after the round one bye.

RSL then chased down the required total in 9.1 overs, having only lost three wickets.

It was the ideal way for the defending champions to bounce back from an opening-round 14-run loss against a 10-man Tourist Hotel team as they now head into the round three bye.

Gabe O’Connor was a standout in the round two clash as he got RSL off to a flying start with a phenomenal six-over spell that saw him claim 3-5.

He took the new ball for the first over of the match and delivered a maiden, and then bowled Jake Cooper (0) with the second ball of his second over as the score became 1-4 in the third.

His opening bowling partner and captain Justin Saunders then took a big wicket during the following over to remove Michael Hewett (9), and then O’Connor produced a double-wicket maiden in the fifth over as he bowled both Matt McConnell (1) and Bentley Myers (0) to make the score 4-12.

The young gun went on to bowl two more maidens and he finished his six-over spell with 3-5, having bowled 33 dot balls. He eventually earned three NDCA best and fairest points for that effort, which continued a brilliant day of cricket for him after he had scored 124 runs that morning for his junior side during round three of Narrabri District Junior Cricket Association’s 2023/24 campaign.

Just as O’Connor did in the fifth over, Saunders delivered a brilliant double-wicket maiden in the sixth as he knocked over Dahlia Glennie (0) and Taryn Kirk (0) to put Tatts on the ropes at 6-12 after six overs.

Those wickets left Packer and Darcy Gleeson together in the middle and they fought hard to produce their side’s best partnership of the day.

However, it was unfortunately not enough as it only delivered 14 runs before Gleeson (5) was bowled by Mick Dowdell in the 15th over after the RSL gun had replaced O’Connor in the 13th and kicked his spell off with a maiden.

That made the score 7-26 before Dowdell claimed another scalp in the 17th when he bowled Rhett Myers for a duck as Tatts found themselves struggling on 8-34.

Nick Baird then brought the innings to an end during the following over when he dismissed Ben Redfern (1) and Campbell Hancock (0) as Tatts fell for 37 in 17.2 overs.

All four of RSL’s bowlers claimed multiple wickets, with O’Connor (3-5 from six overs) and Saunders (3-18 from seven overs) taking three each and Dowdell (2-3 from three overs) and Baird (3-8 from 1.2 overs) taking two each.

Tatts knew that they needed to find early wickets if they had any chance of making the match a contest, and they did just that as Rhett Myers took two in the second over to make the score 2-5 as O’Connor (0) was caught by McConnell and Tyson Gilmore (0) was caught by Glennie.

Gleeson then chipped in with a wicket in the third over to make the score 3-10 as he bowled Kyle McIlrick (2).

Any hopes of a sensational Tatts win were dashed quickly as Dowdell (13) and Max Hunter (15) combined for a 28-run partnership to guide RSL to a seven-wicket win as the chasing side reached the required total just one ball into the 10th over.

Tatts’ Myers (2-5 from three overs), Gleeson (1-20 from five overs) and Packer (0-5 from one over) were the only three bowlers used.

Tatts will be hoping to bounce back from that loss when they challenge round one winners Tourist Hotel this Saturday at Cooma Oval.