Gunnedah’s U11 representative cricketers held on to defeat Inverell by 17 runs at the Inverell-based Brooks Oval last Sunday.

Having started the season with losses to Tamworth Gold and Narrabri, Gunnedah has since accounted for Armidale, Moree and Inverell.

The visitors had the upper hand for most of last Sunday’s contest, but the hosts clawed back before finishing on 8-105 in reply to Gunnedah’s 2-122.

Sent in to bat, Gunnedah tallied 73 runs for the loss of one wicket after 15 overs before restricting Inverell to 1-48 in its first 15 overs.

Jack Wright struck the first, sixth and eighth balls of the match to the boundary, before Rex Plevey was bowled from the 11th delivery.

Jack hit a further three boundaries on his way to 30 from 26 balls, before he retired in the seventh over.

Oscar De Groot and Bailey Irwin were unbeaten on 15 at the innings break, before the first over of Inverell’s innings was a maiden from Bailey.

Jack held a catch off Frank Plevey’s bowling from the final ball of the fifth over, with more tidy bowling taking place in the following overs although five penalty runs were followed by a boundary from the first ball of the 15th over.

Gunnedah resumed its innings with three runs from the first two balls of the 16th over, and then a four to Bailey.

Bailey’s next boundary took him to 32 retired, before Oscar was dismissed from the first ball of the 23rd over with the total on 104.

Only 18 runs were added in Gunnedah’s final 8.3 overs, leaving Inverell needing to score at exactly five runs per over in its second allotment of 15 overs.

Seventeen runs were quickly added to Inverell’s total, before the innings fell apart as the hosts lost 5-8.

A wicket each to Rex and Bailey was followed by two run-outs and a wicket to Frank, before a boundary left Inverell needing 46 runs from the final eight overs.

The 27th over began with a boundary and a wide which reduced the requirement to 27 runs from 23 balls, but then six successive dot balls made the task much harder.

With Inverell needing 21 runs from two overs, Jack conceded only two runs in the 29th over before the only run in the final over was a single from the fourth ball.

Oscar rattled the stumps with the final two balls, enabling him to finish with 2-6 from four overs.

Fortunately for Gunnedah the sundries count didn’t cause too much harm, as Inverell received 42 extras compared to Gunnedah’s 24.

Gunnedah’s next outing will be against Tamworth Blue at Riverside on February 8.

Gunnedah 2-122 (Bailey Irwin 32 retired, Jack Wright 30 retired) defeated Inverell 8-105 (Sundries 42, Hunter Brazier 26; Oscar De Groot 2-6, Frank Plevey 2-7) by 17 runs.