Gunnedah struggles with bat in T20 clashes at Wolseley Park

Gunnedah’s two second grade T20 contests underwent a similar sort of pattern at Wolseley Park last Saturday, as City United and the North Tamworth Redbacks won when batting second.

Two totals in the 70s were insufficient for the hosts as they lost by four wickets and seven wickets, although City United was made to work hard for its victory.

In the opening fixture, Gunnedah began slowly as the third over was a wicket-maiden which left the home side 1-4.

The second wicket fell at 27 before the hosts went from 2-36 to 6-43, with the collapse starting as opener Matt Buck was run out.

The 50 was raised before wicketkeeper Peter Mead held a juggling catch, and then Lachie Straney injected some life into the contest with a quickfire 19 from 10 balls.

Straney’s innings included a six towards the tennis courts, before he was caught in the deep during the final over.

Gunnedah finished its 20 overs on 9-77, before two sharp catches were grassed in the first two overs of the run chase.

The visitors were 2-9 as Straney struck with the first two balls of the third over, with a yorker sending the bails flying before the next delivery produced an lbw.

City United was 3-10 as Gunnedah’s wicketkeeper held a catch off Jonah Cameron, before a run-out made the score 4-20.

The fifth wicket fell at 29 as Trent Winsor bowled Connor Lockyer, but intelligent cricket from Mead and teammate Kilian Apen soon changed the momentum while the fielding became sloppy.

The batting duo ran numerous short singles while the hosts failed to counteract the plan, when it might have been best to have fielders placed at short cover and short mid-wicket.

Mead cut a catch to point in the 15th over as City United was 16 runs shy of victory, but there were no further hiccups as Apen guided the visitors to the target with 3.2 overs to spare.

Apen struck the only boundary of the innings to take the total to 6-75, and soon scored a two and a single to finish with 43 not out after he also had the best bowling figures for City United.

In the following contest, the Redbacks tallied 8-124 before restricting City United to 9-88.

The Redbacks quickly gained the upper hand in the final fixture, as Hamish Batley struck twice in as many balls to have Gunnedah 2-4 in the fourth over.

The hosts tumbled to 4-15 in the seventh over, before 16 runs were added for the next wicket.

Gunnedah’s innings included only four boundaries, with Lachlan Jones hitting two of them as he top-scored with 16 while Straney hit the others in his innings of 10.

Gunnedah again lost nine wickets while batting out the allotted overs, while falling two runs shy of its total from earlier in the day.

The Redbacks lost their first wicket at 22 as Josh Langdon held an edged catch behind the stumps in the sixth over.

Another 25 runs were quickly added before Nick Herring held a catch at backward point, and the target was just seven runs away when Trent Winsor’s opening delivery produced another snick to the wicketkeeper.

Sam Holt struck Trent Winsor’s fifth delivery to the boundary and followed up with a single, before dispatching the following delivery to the fence to seal the result with 53 balls remaining.

City United 6-78 (Kilian Apen 43 not out; Lachie Straney 2-7) defeated Gunnedah 9-77 (Lachie Straney 19; Kilian Apen 2-15, Nicholas Weary 2-17, Connor Lockyer 1-5) by four wickets.

North Tamworth Redbacks 3-79 (Chris Dobson 29; Trent Winsor 1-5) defeated Gunnedah 9-75 (Lachlan Jones 16; Hamish Batley 3-11, Bradley Redshaw 2-9, Paul Abra 2-11) by seven wickets.

Lachie Jones top-scored for Gunnedah’s second graders in their loss to the North Tamworth Redbacks.