Cricket: Two years since the Michael Rixon scored the last hundred in Tamworth first grade cricket

As it happens, in that time, there has still been a drought in Tamworth. Not one defined by heat and minimal rain, but a lack of runs.

To be specific, no batter has scored a century in Tamworth first grade cricket for almost exactly two years. Not since Michael Rixon's odds-defying century against South Tamworth on January 23, 2021.

"That was just one of those days where everything clicked, luckily for me," Rixon said.

It was the first day of a two-day game between North Tamworth and Souths, on a Riverside 2 wicket which Rixon described as "very underprepared".

The Redbacks won the toss and bowled first, only to find themselves two down for just 17 runs when he came in to bat.

"It had a lot of grass on it and was very soft," Rixon said.

"We lost a fair few wickets in clumps at the start ... I just remember my brother getting out caught down the leg side, and after that I started playing a few more shots and they started coming out of the middle."

That 171 off 164 balls is the biggest knock of Rixon's career, and made up a remarkable 70.66 per cent of North Tamworth's score of 242, in an innings where no other batter scored more than Henry Smith's 13 (which was matched by extras).

At the time, skipper Adam Greentree lavished praise on Rixon and said it was the best he'd seen the then-30-year-old bat.

"When he gets going he's very easy on the eye, and he just hits the ball where it's supposed to go and obviously when he's in a mood like he was today he's unstoppable," Greentree said.

It propelled North Tamworth to an 18-run victory on the first innings after Cameron Reeves' attritional haul of 6-67 toppled Souths for 224.

Since then, the highest score in local first grade cricket was Liam Rodgers' 94 for Tamworth City United against Souths on December 3 last year.

Rixon said it was likely the general difficulty of batting on Tamworth wickets, combined with the wet weather over the last two years, that has caused the run-drought across the competition.

However, he believes it will almost certainly be broken in the second half of this season.

"The Tamworth wickets aren't great for batting on a lot of the time," Rixon said.

"No. 1 Oval's quite good this year, so I expect the hundred drought for the competition to break. My prediction is there'll be a couple this year."

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