“NOT IMPOSSIBLE”: Meppem backs Tourist Hotel first XI to push for an NDCA one day finals spot in 2026

At times it certainly was not pretty, but Tourist Hotel Cricket Club managed to secure their first victory of Narrabri District Cricket Association’s 2025/26 first grade campaign on Saturday when they defeated the Boggabri Colts by four wickets at Jubilee Oval.

The Tourist men travelled to Boggabri for the first time for the round eight contest and they spent just 21.4 overs in the field during the first innings after bowling out the hosts for 74 runs, just 10 deliveries after the 20-over drinks break.

They then chased down the required total two deliveries short of their own 20-over mark after losing six wickets in the process, which saw them register seven points in a match for the first time in six games across the first eight rounds, leaving them well and truly in the finals hunt following the much-needed boost.

The victory saw the last-placed side climb to 16 competition points as they closed the gap between Colts (21) and themselves to just five points.

They are now nine points behind third-placed Tatts (25), who lost their round eight match at Collins Park on Saturday by 26 runs against the Wilga Hotel Razorbacks, but Tourist have a bye in the final round of the calendar year this weekend in round nine and will not be able to continue their momentum or make any ground on the teams ahead of them.

Tourist Hotel’s captain Luke Meppem told The Courier that while the bye had certainly arrived at the wrong time, he was impressed with the improvement his side showed on Saturday and was confident that they can make a finals push when the competition resumes next year.

“Our bowling and fielding were both good. You could see the improvement there on previous weeks,” Meppem said.

“There were a lot less wides and much more disciplined bowling than in previous games. I think there was only one dropped catch.

“Boggi were missing a few of their key players, but we bowled the ball at the stumps and got the rewards.

“Lawsy (Danny Laws) bowled really well. I think that was his first time bowling with the wind behind him. Usually the poor bloke has to bowl into the wind, so he made the most of it.

“Our batting wasn’t too bad, but obviously we lost a few more wickets than we would have liked.

“It was good to get a win. The vibe was just so different after the game because obviously you are a lot happier after a win. We were a lot more upbeat about things.

“I think if we can get a similar team on the park to turn up every week, or at least most weeks, we are capable of beating pretty much any team on our day.

“That was close to our best team we’ve had all year, so if we can get a few more back and keep that going, we can get some momentum going.

“The bye has really come at the wrong time for us, but that is what it is.

“We know we have to win most games now (to claim a preliminary final spot), but it’s definitely not impossible.”

Meppem also said that he enjoyed playing at Jubilee Oval for the first time and going up against a team of players who are almost all new to the NDCA competition.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever played at Boggabri. I think they’ve done a really good job down there,” Meppem said.

“It’s really good having a new place to play and a whole new team to play against, really. There’s probably two players in that team that have played in our comp before, and having basically a whole new set of players really adds to the comp.”

Saturday’s match was the first this season in which the Tourist Hotel men have taken all 10 wickets in an innings.

Having now secured 16 scalps in the past two games after only taking nine combined across their first four, the signs of improvement are there for a side that is determined to fight back to earn a top-three spot.

Opening bowlers Hamish Duncan and Dylan Segundo both struck early to leave Boggabri reeling at 2-11 after Jarod Adams (2) was caught behind by Kaleb Mowle in the Duncan-bowled second over before Segundo bowled Nick Millar (6) in the third.

Opening batsman Jay Urquhart and his Colts skipper Cody Kember then combined for their side’s largest partnership of the day as they put on 31 runs together before Urquhart (10) was knocked over by Danny Laws in the ninth over.

Laws (4-14 from seven overs) and David McInnes (2-31 from seven overs) then ripped through the Colts’ middle order, with McInnes claiming the massive wicket of Boggabri’s top run-scorer in the 10th over with the assistance of another Mowle catch after the keeper got under a skied Kember shot and made no mistake with the grab.

Kember had just struck a six and a four before he was dismissed to move to a team-best 30 runs from 20 deliveries, and his departure saw Boggabri’s’ innings come under threat.

His wicket made the score 4-52, and the Colts men could only produce 22 runs with their final six partnerships before they eventually fell for 74 in the 22nd over.

Meppem (2-0 from 0.4 overs) cleaned up the tail as he bowled Grant McIlveen (7) and Rabjir Singh (6), who both showed some fight towards the end of the innings.

Tourist Hotel’s largest first-wicket stand across their first five games of the campaign was just 21 before they lined up at Jubilee Oval, and Nick Tomlinson and Hamish Duncan were able to surpass that when Tomlinson smashed a four to make the score 0-23 in the seventh over. He then scored a single before Duncan (6) departed as he was bowled by Millar.

Singh was thrown the ball for the 10th over when the score was 1-30, and he conceded six runs from his first over before going on to turn the innings on its head with four wickets.

He knocked over Lucas Hogan (3) and John Lawlor (0) in the 12th over and then bowled Dan Treseder (1) in the 14th over to make the score 4-52.

That then became 5-57 in the 16th over when Singh took the big wicket of Tomlinson, who he trapped in front LBW for a match-high score of 37 runs from 44 deliveries.

Tourist Hotel then lost two more batsmen as Sam Pannu retired hurt on seven runs due to sickness before Ben Keys was bowled for a duck by Kember.

However, the experienced duo of Meppem (2*) and Segundo (9*) steadied the ship and guided their side to a four-wicket win, which Segundo brought up with the winning runs just two balls short of the 20-over mark.

Laws was awarded the three best and fairest points for his four-wicket haul, while Tomlinson and Kember also polled points for their efforts with the bat.

Singh finished the second innings with 4-19 from five overs and was unlucky not to pick up any points as well.

The Colts are back at home this Saturday as they look to return to the winner’s circle when they welcome the ladder-leading Wilga Hotel Razorbacks to Jubilee Oval in round nine, which will be their final one day competition match until the season resumes next year on Saturday, January 31. A win in that game could see the Colts rise into third place.

The other round nine fixture will see RSL and Tatts go head-to-head at Hogan Oval in a match that will see the winner go into the Christmas and New Year break ranked second.