A five-wicket haul from Cooper Harris and an unbeaten half-century from Lachie McDonald steered Tocumwal to an impressive three-wicket win over Katunga in a tense A-grade contest on home turf.
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It was the side’s first home game of the Murray Valley Cricket Association season.
Tocumwal were straight into the action in the field with Andy Arthur (0/14) and Lucas Baron (1/30) setting the tone for the team, hitting tight lines and lengths, with Lucas getting the reward with an early wicket.
Lachie McDonald (1/25) kept the standard up taking a difficult caught and bowled.
The introduction of spin with Andrew Lean (2/25) and Tom White (0/25) kept it tight through the middle overs to leave Katunga 4/93 at the final drinks.
The game could have gone either way with Damien Cupido (46) and Jules Cook (25) set and building a partnership.
Some smart field placements and the introduction of Cooper Harris turned the game in our favour, with Cooper getting the set batsmen out and cleaning up the tail on his way to 5 wickets (5/10) to bowl Katunga out for 137.
With a good chance to win Tocumwal went in with a positive attitude with Josh Wraight getting us off to a flyer with three boundaries in the first over before Reilly Rennick and Bryce Meloury built a good little partnership before we lost three quick wickets to be 4/38 after a good spell from Jacob Bartlett (4/25).
Cooper (28) and Lachie rebuilt, taking us to a good position at the last drinks break being in a similar position to Katunga at 4/80.
With four runs, an over needed it was always going to be tight. Cooper was unlucky to be stumped immediately after drinks leaving Lachie and the Tocumwal teenagers to chase the last 58 runs.
Sam Bennett, Tom White and Declan all ran hard and supported Lachie to get us home with 1.5 overs left.
Lachie ended up on 51 not out in a fantastic innings showing us what he can do at an A-grade level.
A fantastic win for Tocumwal after Katunga beat last year’s champions only two weeks ago.
It was a great team effort with all players contributing to the win whether with bat, ball or in the field.
This gives Tocumwal the best start to a season in A-grade for a number of years.
Final score: Tocumwal 7/138 (43.1 overs) def Katunga CPW 137 (44.4 overs).
B-grade
The Bloods won the toss and sent Katunga in on Saturday at Katunga Recreation Reserve.
Katunga posted 134 all out from 39.5 overs, giving us a target to chase.
The bowlers worked hard throughout the innings, with Shaun Goldman leading the attack with an impressive 2/5 from three overs.
Oliver East picked up 2/11 from 1.5 overs, Brandon Meloury finished with 2/25.
James White, Hayden White, Christina Roberts and Adam Hughes also chipped in with a wicket each.
With the bat, Hayden White top-scored with a patient 41 from 85 balls, while Shaun Goldman contributed a valuable 23 from 48.
Brandon Meloury made 12, with Adam Hughes and Christina Roberts both finishing unbeaten on 14.
The Bloods finished on 5/123, falling 11 runs short of the target.
Again plenty of positives to take from the game. The bowlers put in a strong shift and the batting group fought hard right through to the end.
Thanks to everyone who supported the boys throughout the day.
Final score: Katunga 134 (39.5 overs) def Tocumwal 5/123 (40 overs).
C-grade
Toc won the toss and elected to bowl.
Strathy got off to a good start before Peter Lankester (2/19) took the first wicket followed by Paul Stevens (2/18) with the wickets falling steadily with tight bowling.
Pete Harrison had 2/7 and Kurt Chouffot (2/17) was also on a hat-trick.
We had Strathy all out for 101.
We took to the crease with a bit of work to do and lost Paul early which brought the two Petes together with Pete L putting us in a good position making a great 32 with some nice hitting and Pete H pushing the ball around for a nicely made 29.
Overall, it was a great team effort by all to get the first win on the board. Special mention to Joel Harrison for taking a great catch at point.
Final score: Tocumwal 7/103 (26 overs) def Bulldogs Senior 101 (24.3 overs).
Under-17s
The Toc/Barooga under-17s started the season off well with a great win over Nathalia.
Nathalia won the toss and went in to bat, with the two openers falling quickly to Lucas Baron (2/9).
This brought Gus Frostick (85) to the crease, who went unbeaten for the rest of the game.
The middle order bowlers - Ollie East 2/24 (8), Ollie Benson 1/15 (5) and Archie Chellew 1/20 (5) - bowled tight lines and took steady wickets to keep Nathalia to 6/145 after the 40 overs.
Archie Chellew and James Winn started the batting innings strong for Toc, scoring quickly and punishing the loose balls when they came, until Archie was caught behind for 20.
James White then joined James Winn in the middle, both batting with maturity and class, putting on a 96 run partnership together before James Winn was run out on 65.
Kohen Haddrell (33 not out) and James White (41 not out) then made the remainder of the runs to get us home comfortably only two wickets down.
Final score: Barooga/Tocumwal 2/178 (25 overs) def Nathalia 6/145 (40 overs).
Under-15s
The Tocumwal Bloods under-15s have opened their season in style with a big first-up win over Deniliquin.
Sent in to bowl, the Bloods were outstanding with the ball and in the field, rolling the Rhinos for 81.
Captain Archie Chellew led from the front with 3/9 from six overs, with Daniel Burn just as damaging with 3/12.
Sam Borg, Harrison Wilson, Oliver East and Henry Tuck all chipped in with a wicket each, and the fielding was first-class, six catches taken and nothing put down, with Chellew grabbing two.
In reply, the Bloods batted through the rest of the match and cruised past the Deni total.
Chellew backed up his bowling with a fine 70 retired, while Oliver East brought up his first 50 for the club with a patient and well-earned 51 retired.
Harrison Wilson added a handy 18, and the lower order all got valuable time in the middle.
Player of the match went to Archie Chellew for his 70 runs, three wickets and two catches, a true all-round performance.
Final score: Tocumwal 8/205 (41 overs) def Deniliquin Rhinos 81 (23.2 overs).
Under-13s
The Bloods won the toss and decided to bowl first.
Maverick Lankester and Max White started us off in a beautiful opening spell which resulted in a couple run-outs and a wicket from Maverick.
Our bowling and fielding was outstanding as all the bowlers bowled a brilliant line and length with the field backing them up.
We kept Strathy to 40 runs.
We started our batting with Eliza and Lincoln Wraight.
The Strathy bowlers were bowling well, and they were just too good and kept us to 29.
There’s lots of work to do with our defensive shots.
Big shout out to Harvey scoring a beautiful 10 runs.
The game was played in wonderful spirits and fun was had by all.
Final score: Strathy 7/40 (14 overs) def Tocumwal 7/29 (10 overs).
Under-11s
The first game of the season started off with our young Bloods taking on Barooga and opting to field the first innings.
Our first wicket for the day was a run out with excellent fielding from Zavier Griffs, getting a direct side-on hit of the wickets.
He will be a ball magnet on the field, chasing down every ball with lots of encouragement from the team.
Wicket takers were Zavier Griffs, Austin Mehmet, Benson Walker, Xavier Shannon and George Blakelock.
After a quick afternoon tea, it was our turn to bat.
Our top scorers were Benson and George, who each hit a four - a great achievement for our first game.
Lachie Shannon and Will Harris were our lucky last batters, and credit to the Barooga team for getting around our young fellas.
It's great to see such wonderful sportsmanship still alive within our community.
While we didn't come away with a win witnessing such great sportsmanship was a win in itself.
Final score: Barooga 5-144 (20 overs) def Tocumwal 9-65 (20 overs).