RSL and Tourist Hotel lock in second grade grand final spots

Round five victories saw Tourist Hotel and RSL lock in their spots in Narrabri District Cricket Associations’ 2024/25 season T20 grand final.

They both won for the fourth time in five games on Saturday afternoon to go three wins clear of the bottom-ranked SignPrintStitch Colts and Tatts.

RSL beat the Colts by two wickets after chasing down 68 runs with 13 deliveries to spare at Leitch Oval while Tourist Hotel downed Tatts by 27 runs at Hogan Oval.

That meant RSL and Tourist moved to 29 points and the Colts and Tatts both finished the day on 11, meaning neither of the lower-ranked sides can climb into the top two with only one round remaining.

RSL’s win over the Colts was much tighter than they would have hoped after restricting the youngsters to 9-67 in 20 overs.

RSL lost eight wickets during their chase and were 6-15 at one stage, but they got home in the end with one ball remaining in the 18th over.

Only one Colts batsman reached double figures after RSL won the toss and elected to bowl, which was Steve Hallett who scored 25 off 27.

RSL used seven bowlers during that innings and six of them took wickets, led by Bailey Keeler (3-12 from four overs). Openers Darcy Anderson (2-5 from four overs) and Luke Baker (1-12 from four overs) were economical and combined for three scalps before their teammates Rowan Keeler (1-18 from three overs), Alistair Wheeler (1-10 from three overs) and debutant Alin Chhantyal (1-2 from one over) all claimed a wicket each.

RSL’s opening batsmen Lucas Duff (5) and Josh Buckthought (7) put 12 runs on the scoreboard before they departed, and the next four RSL men in all departed for ducks as David McInnes (3-13 from four overs) and Matt Tubner (2-19 from four overs) ripped through the opposition’s top and middle order with the assistance of a Fletch Whan runout to make the score 6-15.

However, Rowan Keeler (29) and Luke Baker (13) got the innings back on track before Anderson (4*) and Chhantyal (5*) brought it home.

Keeler earned the three NDCA best and fairest points while McInnes was awarded two and Anderson picked up one.

In the other match at Hogan Oval, Tourist Hotel batted first after winning the toss and they made 77 runs in 16.2 overs. They then restricted Tatts to 8-50 in 20 overs to win by 27 runs.

Tourist opener Aaronn Baker (13) was the only batsman to make double figures until Isaiah Cochrane entered at number seven and top-scored for his team with 17.

Bentley Myers (3-17 from 3.2 overs), Jarrod Gould (3-20 from four overs) and Brock Schwager (3-25 from four overs) were Tatts’ best with the ball, and opener Jake Cooper finished with 1-9 from three overs.

Tatts were only two wickets down at the halfway mark of their innings but they had only managed to score 21 runs at that stage.

Skipper Jesse Packer eventually top-scored with 14 but was the only Tatts player to reach double digits as his side put up 50 runs while losing eight wickets in 20 overs.

Four of Tourist Hotel’s six bowlers took wickets in that innings and they were each outstanding economically.

Openers Andrew Harvey (2-5 from four overs) and Cochrane (2-7 from four overs) combined for 4-12 before Chris Smith (1-9 from four overs) and Scott Smith (2-8 from four overs) were able to combine for 3-17.

Harvey earned the three NDCA best and fairest points, Myers picked up two and Cochrane polled one.

There is one more round left to play ahead of the February 8 grand final, which will be held on February 1 after this weekend’s Australia Day long weekend break.

Tourist Hotel and the Colts will meet at Collins Park while RSL and Tatts go head-to-head at Leitch Oval.

RSL and Tourist Hotel will then meet on grand final day at Collins Park.