Tamworth Blue will be chasing a Northern Inland Junior Cricket Council hat-trick when the Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16 champions are decided on Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The Blue have qualified for all three finals.
Tamworth will host two of them with the Blue taking on their Gold compatriots in the Tim Grosser Cup (U14s) and facing Armidale in the Ross Panton Cup (U12s).
Gunnedah meanwhile finished on top in the Ross Taylor Cup (U16s), albeit only on run-rate pipping the Blue and Gold.
The Blue 12s and 14s both traveled to Narrabri on Sunday and recorded good wins.
Half-centuries from skipper Harry Lewington (53) and Samuel Holmes (53) formed the backbone of the 12s competitive 5-210. Spread across two 20-over innings Logan Spinks also chipped in with an unbeaten 34, Charlie Walsh 22 and Chris Fox 21.
Lucas Hogan (2-31) was the most successful of the home sides bowlers.
They then made a valiant chase, finishing up 8-177 with Sid Harvey batting beautifully for 73 and negotiating them out of some early trouble. He was well-supported by Bernard O’Connor, who carried his bat for 53.
The Blue fielding was brilliant affecting four run outs.
Next door the 14s compiled a mammoth 9-268 with Kilian Apen hitting 67, Luke Gentle 31, Sam Fox 24 and Isabella Cameron 25.
“We set out to bat 50 overs and we batted 50 overs,” co-coach Damian Henry said.
“We got ourselves into trouble a couple of times but had some good partnerships.”
The only disappointing thing was that none of the top four went on with it after getting a start.
Matt Holmes (3-20) then set the tone for what was to follow with a wicket the first ball of the innings. By over end he had three.
Sam Clark also picked up three wickets and finished on a hat-trick as the Blue rolled Narrabri for 55.
Elsie Ford was the standout with the bat finishing unbeaten on 12.
The Gold sides meanwhile ventured up to Inverell.
The U14s had a close win chasing down Inverell’s 8-164 on Ben Livingstone’s blade with three overs to spare. Livingstone (89) was one of only two batsmen to reach double figures, some wayward bowling from Inverell assisting Tamworth’s pursuit with extras accounting for 37 of their total.
He had earlier taken 2-16.
Sam Murphy, Deni Baker, Jaice Tiberi-Porter also nabbed two wickets apiece.
After bowling the home side out for just 71, Liam Bramley top-scored with 11no as they chased the runs in 28 overs.
Like the 14s they shared the bowling honours around with Toby Ison snaring 3-11, Jordan Lewington 2-10, Bramley 2-5, William Fahey 2-13 and Brendan Irwin 1-14.
