Tamworth Cricket: Liam Rodgers on a much-needed 50 and how to combat the Redbacks

Or, as Tamworth City United batter Liam Rodgers put it during a conversation with the Leader, "it's a rubbish sport".

Of course, Rodgers doesn't actually believe that. He was simply expressing the frustration that most batters feel at one point or another, particularly when they feel in good form but struggle to get consistent time in the middle.

The 21-year-old knows that battle all too well, having put together a mercurial records in recent years.

"The last few years have been a bit different," Rodgers said.

"I find it hard to get any sort of rhythm with batting. particularly batting down the order. Batting in the middle order is very different, you come in with different scenarios each week."

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This season, the natural opening batter took the opportunity to return to the top of the order after Charlie Henderson's departure to Canberra.

And, as of last weekend, it paid dividends. Rodgers compiled a steady 61 as City United forged a total of 8-262 declared on the first day of their round four two-dayer against North Tamworth.

"It felt like it's a bit overdue now, but it's good to finally get a few on the board," he said.

"I've been feeling alright, just haven't been able to put it together. It's nice to get a little bit of luck and a few runs on the board."

Rodgers hopes that his half-century will be the beginning of the kind of scoring streak he has been starved of in recent years.

But first, City United will focus on one of the toughest challenges in Tamworth first grade cricket: bowling out the Redbacks cheaply.

With several of the competition's most proven scorers in their ranks, Rodgers and his teammates believe they know the secret to undermining North Tamworth's response.

"We've played a lot of cricket against them, so I think everyone knows that the key is the Rixons," he said.

"If we can minimise what they can do, everything else will fall into place. But at the end of the day, we've got to bowl well, set good fields, and take our chances."

Given the thunderstorms forecast throughout Friday and the rain that has already fallen this week, Rodgers believes the wicket could play "very differently" on Saturday.

But with a number of quicks in their ranks who relish seam movement, not least among them captain Tait Jordan, City might have an easier time of it than the Redbacks did last Saturday.

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