Tocumwal A-grade played their second home game in a row.
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The side won the toss and decided to field and use the little bit of moisture in the pitch.
Lachlan Brennan got us off to the perfect start taking a wicket with his first legal ball well caught by Sam Bennett in close.
Unfortunately quick runs followed as Luke Quinn (40) got on top of anything loose.
Andy Arthur and Brennan managed to adjust their lines and lengths bowling well in partnership before Brennan managed to remove Luke Quinn with a brilliant caught and bowled.
Unfortunately after this it was all Nathalia as Scott Morris (92) and Gus Frostick (85) built a152 run partnership.
We bowled well in general though we couldn’t take the half chances when they came and let ourselves down in the field at times though not for lack of effort.
Andy Arthur (1/54) returned to get the breakthrough, well caught by Adam Hughes at slip, and Tom White bowled especially well to tighten things up a bit.
As Nathalia accelerated towards the end of the innings Lachlan Brennan returned to take two more wickets to be the clear standout bowler taking 4/35.
Nathalia ended their innings 5-285.
It was a big effort in the field trying to contain set batsmen and players with plenty of wickets in hand.
During the tea break rain came washing out two overs and meaning that a result had to be sought by both teams or the match would be declared a draw.
Tom White (18) and Hayden White (21) opened up and the father-son combination took Tocumwal to 45 runs with no loss of wicket, both batting sensibly against the new ball.
Unfortunately, the team lost three quick wickets to be 3-62.
Sam Bennett and Andrew Lean came together to forge a small partnership through the middle overs before Andrew fell for 15 early after the last drinks.
Again a collapse occurred orchestrated by Scott Morris who took 4/16.
We knew that we only had to survive until the end of the overs to get a draw.
Sam Bennett took it upon himself to carry us home remaining not out 28 not out off 65 balls batting with maturity well beyond his years.
We finished up on 8/145.
There were many tense moments towards the end by Sam Bennett and Amal Aji (10*), on his A-grade debut, managed to keep out the Nathalia attack until the end though their approaches to this differed greatly.
A great effort from the team to bat our overs again.
With a few fixes in the field and a bit of luck we will be right in the contest as we move ahead in the season.
It was great to see our under-17s Tom White and Sam Bennett step up and perform at A-grade level.
A special mention must go to Matt Whitty the umpire who made sure we got as much cricket as possible in spite of the wet weather and kept his cool when things were getting tense at the end.
The umpires are often criticised but do not get enough praise for what they do, Thank you Matt.
C-grade
C-grade travelled to Strathmerton for round two after losing the toss and being sent to the field we got the start we wanted with Lachie McDonald and Pete Lankester both getting early breakthroughs against the aggressive Strathy top order.
Tocumwal pushed through the middle overs taking regular wickets with Shaun Goldman taking some timely catches.
The Tocumwal side let one Strathy batsmen get on top of us but he was removed after taking on one too many.
The visiting side bowled Strathy out for 100.
Wicket takers were: Lachie McDonald 2/8, Pete Lankester 2/11, James White 2/14, Ollie East 1/30, Sam White 1/8 and Kenny Chellew 2/1.
It was a great performance with the ball with multiple wicket takers and bowling a team out which Tocumwal have struggled to do in the past.
With the bat the scorer’s nightmare of Brandon and Bryce Meloury got Tocumwal off to a good start before Bryce fell for 7.
This sparked a collapse with Goldman, McDonald, Sam White and Lankester all falling cheaply.
With the score at 4/29 Keith Stevens walked out to bat.
He and Brandon Meloury put on a quick partnership before Stevens fell for 13.
The man-in-form Archie Chellew got to things straight away pushing the tempo between the wickets and made a nice 13 before being caught by a great catch.
Kenny marched out to the crease and Brandon bought up his first 50 for the year and had to retire.
Tocumwal needed 5 runs as James White headed in and from there it was all the Kenny show as he got Tocumwal over the line with some power hitting.
Tocumwal ended up winning by 3 wickets.
It was a great result and the team’s first win for the year.
It was a great team effort with everyone contributing in some way.
Thank you to the juniors who stepped up for this game.
Tocumwal love having you be part of the team and enjoy watching you play and grow as cricketers.
Under-17s
On day one of a two dayer on Friday in the under-17s Tocumwal took on the combo of Cobram and Katamatite.
Tocumwal won the toss and elected to bat, Tom White and new opener James Winn took to the crease and got us off to a flyer, before Winn was out for a quick fire 9.
Tocumwal lost two more quick wickets, with White being the main stay.
White didn't look like getting out until an unfortunate run-out saw him out for a fine knock of 43.
Tocumwal batted solidly and steadily with Max Thorburn (8) and Archie Chellew (21) hitting some great shots.
The boys were all out in the final over.
A big thank you goes out to James White who retired to allow Lucas Grieves a bat.
The team were very pleased with the lads’ batting performance against a strong opposition.
Now the team aim to back it up with the ball this Friday.
Under-15s
The Tocumwal Post Office Bloods under-15s played their first day of a two-day match against Deniliquin at home on Saturday. Coming off a strong win against Katamatite the previous week, the team continued their fine form — this time with the bat.
After winning the toss, Tocumwal elected to bat and delivered a fantastic team innings, finishing the day on 6/218 from 40 overs. It was a strong display of patience, power, and partnerships across the board.
In the batting Archer Chellew (71 off 70) led from the front with a captain’s knock, striking 11 fours and setting the tone for the innings before retiring.
Lucas Baron (70 off 80) was equally impressive, showing great composure and shot selection to also retire.
James White (18 off 16) added valuable quick runs in the middle order.
Oliver East (13 off 32) helped steady the innings with an important partnership.
Extras contributed 33 runs, reflecting solid discipline and running between the wickets.
Tocumwal’s batting depth shone through, with everyone playing their role to push the total beyond 200 — an excellent score to defend.
Deniliquin will resume next week chasing 219, and Tocumwal knows a strong bowling and fielding effort will be key to securing the points.
A great all-round team performance with plenty of positives — confidence is high heading into day two.
Under-13s
The Tocumwal Post Office Bloods played their first game of the season on Friday night against Barooga.
After winning the toss, the team chose to bat first and put together a strong, patient innings — finishing 2/74 from 20 overs.
In the batting Archie Matters led the way with a composed 17 (21), including a boundary.
Lucas Bell added a quick 13 (13) with two fours before being dismissed.
Joel Harrison (10 off 20), Nate Dickins (9 off 20), Samuel Borg (7 off 13) and Charlie Wilson (5 off 13) all retired not out after solid contributions.
Extras helped push the total along to 74 runs.
In reply, Barooga batted steadily to finish 0/75 in 17 overs, taking the win.
While Tocumwal didn’t manage to grab a wicket, there were some encouraging bowling efforts, especially from Samuel Borg (2 overs, 2 runs) and Lucas Bell (2 overs, 5 runs).
Bowling summary: Samuel Borg: (2–0–2–0), Lucas Bell (2–0–5–0), Max White and Joel Harrison (both 2–0–7–0).
Lilly Grieves: 2–0–6–0 Skye Chellew: 2–0–8–0
The team will focus this week on improving bowling accuracy, with 25 extras (wides and no-balls) proving costly.
A special congratulations to Charlie Wilson and Lilly Baldwin on playing their first game for the club — fantastic to see new faces joining the Bloods.
A positive start to the season with a great batting display and plenty to build on.
We’ll dust ourselves off, train hard this week, and come back stronger next round.
Tocumwal Ice Creamery Award Winner: Lucas Bell.
Under-11s
In their first game of the season, the under-11s won the toss and decided to ball first.
Tocumwal got off to a good start with an early wicket by Maverick Lankester.
A couple of good overs were had by Barooga before Harvey Matters threw the stumps down for a beautiful runout.
All the bowlers bowled well with Kobi Jones leading the way with 3 wickets.
Tocumwal came into bat and got off to a shaky start as Barooga took a couple of early wickets.
All the batters did an amazing job facing some tough bowling.
Ashton Griffs was the top scorer with 16 runs including 3 beautiful boundaries.
All in all the game was played in good spirits and everybody had a blast.
This week's award went to Ashton Griffs.