RSL crowned first grade T20 champions for the first time since 2011

Narrabri RSL Cricket Club are finally first grade T20 champions again after beating the Wilga Hotel Razorbacks by five wickets with seven deliveries to spare under lights at Collins Park on Saturday night.

It was a win 14 years in the making after the RSL first XI last got the job done in the short format decider in 2011.

Since then, they had lost two grand finals against Golf Club and lost one by default against Tatts due to a washout, and there were no first grade T20 competitions played from 2019 until this season.

The RSL men were eager to finally win it once again to continue a run of dominance that has seen them claim the four most recent one day premierships.

RSL and the Razorbacks have been the two best teams in both formats during the 2024/25 Narrabri District Cricket Association season and they drew a large crowd to watch them contest Saturday night’s decider.

The Razorbacks batted first after their stand-in skipper Jack Tate won the toss in the absence of captain Matt Bradshaw, and they scored 80 runs before losing their final wicket with just one delivery to spare.

RSL reached 80 runs with eight deliveries still to be bowled in the second innings, and then a wide from the last ball of the 19th over brought the match to a close as RSL celebrated their second top-grade T20 premiership.

Captain Jarrett Tough told The Courier that he was proud of his men and declared that their focus would quickly shift to winning a fifth consecutive one day competition decider.

RSL’s opening bowlers got their side off to a flying start to the first innings of Saturday night’s match as Nathan Trindall produced 10 dot balls during his first two overs and Cooper Brayshaw took two wickets during his first two overs to remove Wilga Hotel’s opening duo Greg Melton and Josh Schwager for two runs each.

The score was 2-17 at the six-over mark after Brayshaw and Trindall had bowled three each, and Tough opted to go with Cody Kember for the seventh over. That change paid dividends as Kember bowled Nathan Hamblin (3) to put the Razorbacks on the ropes at 3-19.

Like Trindall, Kember only conceded runs off two of his deliveries during his first two overs, but Tough threw the ball to his spinner Jake Brayshaw for the 11th over after the Razorbacks ended the first half of the innings on 3-28.

Brayshaw bowled four straight overs from the bridge end and he produced a team-best 4-17 to make the score 7-66 after 17 overs. His first wicket saw him knock over Dylan Smith in the 13th over with the assistance of a Tough catch. Smith departed having scored a team-best 28 runs after arriving at the crease at number three. The RSL spinner bowled Tate (9) in the 15th over before dismissing Ben Sevil and Angus Galagher for ducks in the 17th.

Zack Doring went on to register an unbeaten 23 runs, but he was the only Razorbacks batsman beside Smith to hit double digits as Cooper Brayshaw ran out Jack Maunder (1) and Patrick Hubbard (3) before Tough took the final wicket of the innings to dismiss Mark Rottger (4) with one delivery left in the innings.

Jake Brayshaw took the catch that brought the innings to a close as he and his brother Cooper ended the innings having contributed to nine of the 10 wickets. Cooper took 2-12 from three overs and two runouts, Kember was also impressive economically with 1-7 from three overs, and Tough ended with 1-19 from 2.5 overs.

Trindall finished wicketless but he played a crucial role in limiting the Razorbacks to a low total as he only conceded five runs from his three overs.

The Wilga Hotel men got off to a flying start to the second innings as Smith conceded two runs from the first over before Melton produced a double-wicket-maiden in the second to send Tough and Max Hunter back to the stands for ducks. That made the score 2-2, which then became 3-14 when Melton dismissed Bailey Keeler (5) with the assistance of a Schwager catch in the sixth over.

RSL opener Will Ford had scored 20 runs as RSL ended the halfway mark of the innings at 3-39, and he added two more in the 11th over before being run out by Doring.

Cooper Brayshaw and Kember put on a 20-run partnership before Brayshaw became Melton’s fourth victim as he was caught behind by Galagher in the 15th over to make the score 5-63.

That was Melton’s fourth and final over as he finished with match-best figures of 4-8, but none of his Wilga Hotel teammates could find a wicket as Kember (22*) and Zaac Brayshaw (5*) guided RSL to a five-wicket win with seven deliveries to spare. They needed 15 runs to win with four overs remaining and scored five runs in each of the next three overs to be crowned champions of the T20 competition.