Any chance of Gunnedah featuring in this year’s Tamworth District Cricket Association (TDCA) first grade finals series was extinguished at Wolseley Park last Saturday, as City United beat the home side by six wickets.

Gunnedah became further entrenched in fourth place in the five-team competition, with only the top three teams progressing to the finals.

With Gunnedah needing to win outright last Saturday to have any chance of sneaking into the top-three, a risky declaration led to City United cruising to a comfortable outright victory.

City United had gained the upper hand the previous Saturday, having dismissed Gunnedah for 91 in 42.3 overs and then reached 7-110 in 34 overs.

With both teams undergoing some player changes on day two, City United increased its first-innings lead as Tait Jordan showed moments of aggression.

Jordan hit successive fours in one over and 12 runs in another over, including two fours in three balls.

The visiting team reached 7-149 before two catches off Ash White’s bowling made it 9-151.

The last-wicket pair increased City United’s lead to 77, with Callum Henry reaching a half-century before the final wicket fell next ball when a yorker from Jonah Cameron rattled Will Davis’s leg-stump.

Gunnedah was quickly in trouble in its second innings, with a miscued shot from Sam Doubleday lobbing to the wicketkeeper from the last ball of the first over.

Having been dismissed for a duck the previous week, Gunnedah captain Kyle Gallen narrowly avoided a ‘pair’ when a tough catch went to ground from a mistimed hook shot which enabled him to open his account.

Keaton Walters slammed the next ball for six, and the luck continued to run Gunnedah’s way as Gallen played and missed repeatedly before finding the boundary.

The fifth over yielded 15 runs, with Walters edging a single just wide of the gully fielder at catchable height before Gallen clubbed two fours and a six.

The first ball of the sixth over went for four byes, and then Walters lifted the next ball over the mid-wicket boundary. Walters skied the following delivery to mid-on, but a dropped catch gifted him two runs before Walters scored another two later in the over.

Gallen’s luck soon expired when he skied a catch to short cover, and then Izaak Merlehan’s first two scoring shots were a single and a four as he also avoided a dreaded ‘pair’ after failing to score the previous Saturday.

A somewhat questionable lbw ruling against Walters left Gunnedah 3-54, before Merlehan popped a catch to short cover off an awkward delivery with the total on 69.

Richard O’Halloran promptly began with a full-toss which White slogged into a tennis court, and soon drinks were taken at the 20-over mark with Gunnedah having levelled the scores and avoided the prospect of an innings defeat.

Hayden Doherty took the initiative after play resumed, and also had some luck. He lofted a four over long-on and a six over long-off from successive balls, and narrowly avoided being caught both times.

Having raced to 30, Doherty sought another boundary but this time he was caught at long-on, leaving Gunnedah 5-119 and leading by 42 runs.

White overtook Doherty’s score before knocking a catch to point, and a further 15 runs were added for the loss of another three wickets.

Brad Swain was ruled caught behind after chancing his arm, and Aidan King was caught at mid-wicket before City United skipper Tom Fitzgerald took a fine catch to dismiss Peter McCormack and give Nathan Clark his fifth wicket of the innings.

Clark finished with match figures of 8-60 from 21.5 overs.

McCormack’s dismissal with the score at 9-150 off 38.5 overs prompted Gunnedah’s captain to declare the innings closed, leaving City United a task of just 74 runs from 19 overs.

Had Gunnedah’s number 11 batter Jonah Cameron been given a chance at the crease, the home side could have set a more challenging target which could have produced a different outcome.

When City United raced to 4-74 in only 11.3 overs, it appeared the hosts might have been better off if they batted a bit longer and tried to set a target of at least 90 from 15 or 16 overs.

Hopes of a Gunnedah miracle were raised when Chris Fox edged a catch behind off White’s bowling to leave City United 1-0 after three balls, but then Fitzgerald edged the fifth ball for a streaky boundary.

Seven runs in the second over were followed by 13 in the third, with Fitzgerald having clouted a four and hooked a six from consecutive balls.

The complexion briefly changed again as the fourth over was a wicket-maiden, with Jordan skying a catch to mid-off.

The total quickly moved to 38 before Ben Irwin claimed his second wicket when he bowled Sam Davis, leaving City United needing 36 runs from 13 overs.

Walters’s first delivery hit the top of Henry’s off-stump, but City United was in control as only 21 runs were needed from 65 balls with six wickets in hand.

A splendid cut shot to the boundary from O’Halloran in the 11th over moved the score to 4-64, and then Fitzgerald polished off the remaining 10 runs from the first three balls of the 12th over.

Fitzgerald reverse-swept a four, and then played an off drive for two before pulling a loose ball for the match-winning boundary.

City United’s captain had an outstanding all-round match, having scored 53 off 56 balls in the first innings and 49 not out off 32 in the run chase, while also having bowling figures of 10-2-16-3 and 5-1-12-2 as well as three catches.

Gunnedah will play for pride this Saturday and the following Saturday, when hosting the third-placed Bective East at Wolseley Park in the last round of the regular season.

City United 168 (Tom Fitzgerald 53, Callum Henry 50 not out; Ash White 4-74, Keaton Walters 3-23) and 4-74 (Tom Fitzgerald 49 not out; Ben Irwin 2-19) defeated Gunnedah 91 (Ash White 26; Tom Fitzgerald 3-16, Richard O’Halloran 3-17, Nathan Clark 3-19) and 9-150 declared (Ash White 32, Hayden Doherty 30; Nathan Clark 5-41, Tom Fitzgerald 2-12) by six wickets.

Ben Irwin.

Tom Fitzgerald.