War Veterans Cup: Gunnedah celebrate rare win in Tamworth

Gunnedah hung on to savour a rare win in Tamworth, while Narrabri limped their way to a one-wicket home win over Inverell.

The defending champions had Inverell 6-90 before Jakob Haines (55) inspired a fightback that saw them scramble their way to 160.

Narrabri then found themselves in a similar predicament at 6-87, but Jake Brayshaw (22no) banded together with the tail to steer the home side to the points.

In Tamworth, Troy Sands and Cameron Milne led the charge as Gunnedah dismissed the home side for 162 in reply to their 164 to repeat last year’s triumph over the perennial heavyweights and go two from two this season.

“Very proud of the boys. It was a magnificent win,” Gunnedah skipper Mitch Swain.

“A lot of the young blokes don’t really know how rare it is to win in Tamworth.”

It’s something few of even the older players in the side have experienced before.

Swain nabbed the final crucial wicket, trapping Tamworth skipper Tom O’Neill in front third ball of the 40th over to finish with 3-35. 

He had only brought himself back on so he could swing Milne around ends.

“I was super impressed with our attitude, that was where I thought we won it,” he said.

“We took some tough catches, and our talk, our ground fielding – everything was spot on.”

“Milne (2-19) really tightened it up and Troy (1-12) was good early, and everyone else chimed in around them.”

The skipper was though, and justifiably, a bit critical of their batting effort.

Batting at seven, Swain (23) and No. 3 Adam McGuirk (44) were the only batsmen to score more than 20 with the wickets tumbling at regular intervals.

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Tamworth’s wayward bowling helped their cause with the home side bowling 32 wides.

Swain acknowledged that was probably the difference in the end.

He conceded he didn’t think 164 was enough.

“I would have said 200 was probably a par score,” he said.

“We were a long way below that.”

O’Neill was pretty happy keeping them under 200. But the extras hurt them severely.

“We win that easy if we don’t bowl that many wides,” he said.

Scott Brennan (4-31) and Joey Mead (1-21) were the pick of the bowlers.

They then slumped to 3-35 in reply. City club-mates Brad Smith (49 off 48) and Tom Fitzgerald (28) got the run chase back on track, Smith smacking 49 off 48.

But the momentum was lost again when following Fitzgerald’s dismissal they lost 4-19 – the Tamworth innings bearing a lot of similarities to Gunnedah’s.

“We just needed one of that top four or five to score a 50 and it would have made a big difference,” O’Neill said.

Coming in at eight, Tait Jordan belted 39 off 34 to almost get them over the line, the quick falling to Hayden Baker with five runs to get.