Wilga Hotel Razorbacks edge out Tatts in a Collins Park classic

A highly-anticipated top-of-the-table round three clash between the two favourites to take out Narrabri District Cricket Association’s 2025/26 first grade one day competition lived up to the hype on Saturday as the Wilga Hotel Razorbacks held off Tatts to win by eight runs at Collins Park.

In what was the highest-scoring contest of the season so far, the Razorbacks batted first and made 153 runs in 38.2 overs before knocking over Tatts for 145 runs in 37.2 overs.

It was a thrilling finale as Tatts were 8-134 in the Jay Hall-bowled 36th over when three wides and a five-run penalty for the ball striking the wicketkeeper’s helmet took the chasing side to 142 runs.

That chaotic over ended with Ed Currall being run out by Mark Rottger, which left Tatts needing 12 runs to get from the final four overs with just one wicket in hand.

They managed to score two runs in the 37th over as Greg Melton produced six well-pitched deliveries, and the required total then reached single figures when Jonty Schwager scored a single from the first ball of the 38th over.

However, Hall struck with his next delivery as he bowled Dillon Hutton to bring an end to Tatts’ undefeated start to the season and ensure that the Razorbacks remained the only unbeaten team in the 2025/26 campaign, with wins either side of their round two bye.

The Wilga Hotel side’s captain Jack Tate missed Saturday’s match, as did fellow gun fast bowler Dylan Smith, which stand-in skipper and club president Greg Melton said made the victory all the more impressive.

“We only had six players available to play on Wednesday, then on Thursday and Friday we had to toil pretty hard to get a team on the park. We had a couple of guys make their debuts for us,” Melton said.

“It was the best game I’ve played in since I’ve been back here, especially in terms of intensity.

“Tatts bowled pretty well, and we let ourselves down in the top order a little bit, but Gus (Angus Galagher) took over and batted a fair chunk of time and got us in a really good position.

“He had some good partnerships with Jay Hall and Ty Baker, and Mark Rottger as well.”

While the Razorbacks bowlers got the job done at the death for their side, it was Galagher who was the hero after he starred with the bat in the first innings.

The wicketkeeper/batsman arrived at the crease in the 10th over when Rod Kirk bowled Pat Hubbard, who had struggled to get going as he scored four runs from 34 deliveries.

Galagher lost seven partners during his time out in the middle, with only Matt Bradshaw (15), Ty Baker (11) and Hall (18) hitting double digits, but the keeper scored 61 runs from 66 deliveries before being run out in the 36th over.

He smashed five fours and a six during his innings, which Melton said was the crucial component in the Razorbacks’ win.

Tatts used seven bowlers and six of them took wickets. Kirk (2-20 from eight overs), Jonty Schwager (2-22 from 7.2 overs) and skipper Josh Campbell (2-38 from eight overs) all took two each, and Brodie Heron (1-26 from seven overs), Dillon Hutton (1-16 from three overs) and Brendon Ward (1-19 from three overs) took one each.

Jake Packer secured the other wicket with the throw that ran out Galager.

Jacob Nichols’ impressive start to the 2025/26 campaign continued when Tatts’ wicketkeeper/batsman opened and got his side on the front foot with a team-best score of 32 runs from just 27 deliveries.

Hall struck first for the Razorbacks when he bowled Tatts’ other opener Karl Hatfield (1) in the fourth over, and Ty Baker turned the innings on its head in the ninth over to stop Tatts’ early momentum.

Baker struck in his first over of his first game back since 2022 as he dismissed Nichols with the assistance of a Melton catch in the slips before knocking over Tom Craig for a golden duck from the next ball to find himself on a hat-trick.

Jakeb Nipperess survived that hat-trick ball as the score remained 3-53, but that became 4-53 during the following over when Nathan Hamblin caught Packer (12) from his own bowling.

Hamblin struck again in the 12th over as he bowled Nipperess (2) to put the Razorbacks in the box seat at 5-56, but experienced Tatts duo Kirk and Campbell consolidated the innings and produced a crucial partnership to take Tatts into triple figures.

Kirk contributed 10 of those runs during a patient 44-ball innings, but he fell in the Matt Bradshaw-bowled 25th over as Hamblin took the catch that made the score 6-102.

Baker was brought back on for his second spell in the 26th over, and he took another big wicket in the 30th when he dismissed Campbell (30) with the assistance of a catch from Hall.

The match was well and truly in the balance at that stage as Tatts were 7-112 with Ward and Currall at the crease, needing 41 runs to win from 10 overs.

The task at hand became trickier as Bradshaw bowled Ward (6) in the 33rd over, and the Tatts men eventually fell nine runs short of what would have been their third win in a row.

Tatts are still on top of the table as they picked up a point to move to 15, with the Razorbacks also having won two games but having sat out with the round two bye and receiving no points, meaning their win saw them climb to 14 points.

The Boggabri Colts are now third following their dominant eight-wicket win against Tourist Hotel at Hogan Oval, which saw them join RSL on eight points but overtake the now fourth-placed defending champions.

The Colts chased down 76 runs in 13.2 overs, having lost just two wickets, after bowling out a nine-player Tourist Hotel batting lineup in 17.4 overs.

Tourist Hotel are now last on three points following three straight losses.

Tatts will be looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season this Saturday in round four when they meet an RSL side fresh off a bye at Hogan Oval, while the round three winners will go head-to-head at Jubilee Oval when the Razorbacks travel to Boggabri to challenge the Colts in a day-nighter.

The Jubilee Oval clash will be Boggabri’s first home game in almost two decades.