Wahgunyah Dreamtime Mirri and Wilga Hotel join GFS Engineering at the top

Last season’s finalists Wilga Hotel and Wahgunyah Dreamtime Mirri both scored victories in the third round of Narrabri District Women’s Cricket Association’s 2023/24 campaign on Saturday night as they climbed to join GFS Engineering on top of the ladder.

The two teams successfully chased down totals as the defending champs Wahgunyah won by eight wickets and Wilga Hotel prevailed by six wickets.

At Collins Park, Wahgunyah were able to restrict GFS Engineering to just 8-76 in 20 overs and then reach the required total in 13 overs, two wickets down, on their way to a comfortable victory that ended their opponents’ winning start to the campaign.

In the other game at Hogan Oval, Nandewar Motel batted first and they registered their largest total of the season so far as they batted out the 20 overs and finished on 2-149.

However, they were unable to stop the Wilga Hotel ladies from reaching the required total as the chasing side made 4-152 in 17.1 overs.

A third of the nine-round regular season has now been contested, with all three teams having played each other once.

Wilga Hotel, GFS Engineering and Wahgunyah Dreamtime Mirri have all accumulated 15 points following two wins and a loss each, while Nandewar Motel are at the bottom of the ladder with three points after three straight losses.

Although they are yet to win a match, Nandewar Motel’s three games have all been close contests and a victory is well and truly around the corner.

In their round three game at Hogan Oval, the in-form Michaela Plata stole the show as she produced arguably the most dominant innings seen in Narrabri District Women’s Cricket Association history.

The Nandewar Motel gun opened the batting and remained unbeaten on 86 runs after the final delivery of the innings had been bowled. She blasted 14 fours and a six during her entertaining innings as she produced the highest score of the entire season.

Clare Mead opened with Plata and made a handy contribution before she was bowled for 24 runs by Carmel Harvey, and her replacement Michelle Wheeler (0) was bowled for a duck by Bridget Murphy.

That brought Bec Cope to the crease for Nandewar Motel and she finished unbeaten on 12 runs at the end of the innings.

Wilga Hotel lost an early wicket when the second innings began as Cope knocked over Mereka Gleeson (0) to make the score 1-1.

Fellow Wilga opener Kate Johnstone produced some sensational batting as she scored the second half century of the contest. She managed 55 runs, which included 10 boundaries, before being caught out by Plata from the bowling of Wheeler.

She was well supported by Taryn Kirk (15) and Kate Rickard (28), and then Diana Burtenshaw (20*) and Murphy (10*) finished the game off in style as they guided their side to a six-wicket victory in 17.1 overs.

Wheeler finished the innings with 2-29 from four overs and was the only player to take more than one wicket in the game. Her teammates Mead (1-24 from four overs) and Cope (1-31 from four overs) also took a wicket each in the second innings.

Over at Collins Park, Wahgunyah Dreamtime Mirri skipper Angie Knox made the early breakthrough as she bowled Kristie Toomey in the fifth over to make the score 1-20.

Fellow GFS top-order batters Milly Adams (17), Grace Farrer (17) and Bekka Gibbs (14) all chipped in with starts, but Wahgunyah Dreamtime Mirri bowled well enough to dismiss them before they could reach 20 and then restricted the middle and lower order to just nine runs off the bat.

Wahgunyah bowler Karen Baker dominated with four wickets, while teammates Knox, Lidia McCauley, Velvet Craigie and Brogan Morris took a wicket each as the GFS Engineering team finished on 8-76 after 20 overs.

Morris and Molly Welsh opened the batting for the chasing side and they combined for a 43-run partnership before Morris (13) was bowled by Toomey in the eighth over.

Kimberley Laurie replaced her and added 10 runs before she was trapped in front by Leilani Smith.

Welsh was the anchor of the innings and finished unbeaten on 50 runs as she guided her side to a sensational eight-wicket win in 13 overs.

She smashed nine fours during that knock as she became just the fourth player in the competition this season to score a half century.

Her teammate Valerie Booby (2*) finished unbeaten as well.

The fourth round of the NDWCA’s 2023/24 competition will be held this Saturday night.

Wahgunyah Dreamtime Mirri will meet Wilga Hotel in a top-of-the-table clash at Collins Park, while Nandewar Motel go in search of their first win of the campaign when they challenge GFS Engineering at Hogan Oval.