Cricket: Central North finish runners-up at state

Last week a contingent of Magpies combined with players from New England and Moree to contest the inaugural State 55s Championships on the Central Coast, and this weekend the Tamworth 50s will head to Gloucester to play in the first-ever Adam Gilchrist (Wingnut) Cup.

Proposed as an annual warm-up event for the upcoming season, the two-day, four-team tournament will also involve New England and two Mid North Coast teams.

READ ALSO:

Tamworth 50s captain Steve Wilson was one of several Magpies that padded up for the Central North team and led them to a runner-up finish.

"We went pretty well for a group of blokes that came together with not a lot of match practice," Wilson said.

After winning their games on the first two days, they then came up against a strong Riverina/Western team in the final, and chasing 225 were dismissed for 142.

Still it was "good to blow the cobwebs out", Wilson said.

"Obviously it was a little bit rusty," he said.

"We'd had a couple of hits in the net before we went down to Central Coast but you knew after three days that you hadn't played much."

"[But] They were a good bunch of blokes to go away with. We had a good time and played some good cricket too."

He mentioned Phil Constable, Steve Newman, Darrel Smith (Moree) and Barry Hoy (Walcha) as a few of the best performers.

After this weekend, the attention for Wilson and the Magpies then turns to their Doug Walters Cup defence. Their first game is against New England sometime next month.

There was a push to potentially field two Tamworth teams this season, but Wilson doesn't believe that is happening.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: