Monster partnership goes unrewarded for Razorbacks as lighting strikes cut the first grade T20 openers short

Lightning and wet weather rained on Narrabri District Cricket Association’s parade on Friday night as both first grade T20 competition round one matches were abandoned midway through the second innings.

Tourist Hotel were in control at Leitch Oval where they had RSL at 4-62 after 12.5 overs after setting them 125 runs to chase, while the match at Hogan Oval was well and truly in the balance as Boggabri Colts were 1-53 after 9.4 overs while chasing the 146-run total that had been set by the Wilga Hotel Razorbacks.

Both matches were declared draws and all four teams picked up four points each, while Tatts sat the night out with the bye and are just below the other teams, having not yet earned any points.

The Razorbacks lost two early wickets during the first innings at Hogan Oval after Boggabri Colts’ Jayde Campbell bowled Greg Melton (7) in the sixth over before Davo McCathie (1) was dismissed by Nick Millar in the seventh, which made the score 2-34.

Opener Matt Bradshaw was then joined in the middle by his captain Jack Tate, and the duo produced a remarkable 111-run third-wicket partnership that the Boggabri men were unable to break.

A single to Tate in the final over saw him finish with 68 runs from just 42 deliveries in his first outing as the Razorbacks’ skipper, and Bradshaw smashed two fours to move to 48 with just one delivery remaining, from which he could only manage a single as he fell one run short of a half-century on 49 from 61 deliveries.

That impressive partnership saw Wilga Hotel end the innings with 2-145, surpassing their best score in last season’s T20 campaign by 15 runs.

Campbell and Ben Haire opened the batting for Boggabri in the second innings and a knee injury to Campbell in the third over brought their partnership to an abrupt end with the score at 0-8.

Millar then arrived at the crease and smashed a six and three fours to score 26 off 16 deliveries before he was bowled by Jay Hall in the eighth over.

That made the score 1-44, which became 1-53 in the 10th over when Nathan Millar got off the mark with a boundary to help boost the run rate and guide his side towards the required total. However, that was the final play of the game as the match ended two deliveries short of the halfway mark of the second innings due to lightning.

Tourist Hotel got off to an impressive start in the other contest at Leitch Oval after Hamish Duncan won the toss and elected to bat.

His side was cruising at 1-69 at the 10-over mark after Duncan’s opening batting partner Nick Tomlinson had been dismissed for 29 runs by Bailey Keeler in the ninth over.

Duncan (25), Tom Vanderstock (16) and Chris Smith (23) all had Tourist Hotel in a favourable position at 2-101 after 13 overs, but RSL’s Nathan Trindall then ripped through the middle order to finish with 5-11 from four overs and limit Tourist Hotel to 9-124.

A Jarrett Tough wicket-maiden in the final over saw the RSL skipper end with impressive figures of 2-14 from four overs, and Bailey Keeler (2-34 from four overs) also finished with two wickets for his side.

RSL lost both opening batsmen early in the second innings as Rowan Keeler (5) departed in the fourth over and was followed by Jordan Doolan (7) in the fifth.

The chasing side were well below the required run rate when Max Hunter became the Tourist Hotel’s third victim in the eighth over as the score became 3-36.

Tough then did his best to drag his team back into the game with a run-a-ball 24, but it came to a premature end in the 13th over when Tough was bowled by Kaleb Mowle and the two sides were forced from the field due to lightning.

The first grade sides will now focus on the one day campaign until Friday, December 19, when the T20 competition resumes with round two matches and continues until grand final night on Saturday, January 17.