Tocumwal’s A-grade side travelled to take on Katamatite in Murray Valley Cricket Association action at the weekend.
It was a closely contested game, with Toc sneaking home by one run with tight, clean bowling and excellent batting skills on show.
Tocumwal won the toss and headed out to field.
Tocumwal started on fire with an awesome opening spell by Andy Arthur and a couple of early spin overs from Toby Chappell to take two key wickets.
The Tocumwal team kept the pressure on through the whole innings with clean hands, confident fielding and tight bowling.
Every person who bowled did a fantastic job.
Andrew Lean and Angus Bourchier took three wickets, Toby Chappell two, Andy Arthur one and Reilly Rennick snatched one as Katamatite were bowled out for 161.
Some great fielding saw Liam Sutton and Reilly Rennick both taking two catches each to round out the play.
With a target clear within reach, Tocumwal got off to a fantastic start with Archie Mason and Cody Deegan setting up a 58 run partnership that saw Deegan making 23 and Mason making 34 runs.
Unfortunately Tocumwal went on to lose three quick wickets but Luke Dinan (44) and Toby Chappell (29no) came to the rescue putting a 62 run partnership on the board.
Under nail biting conditions Paul Mangion then came in with one of the most important 2no in the club’s history to get Tocumwal home with a win, and with Toby remaining not out.
“This was a fantastic win for the club and as captain I was so proud of the whole team for the getting good reward for all our efforts over the last few years,” said Tocumwal captain Andrew Lean.
In round three of the under-16s, Tocumwal played Katamatite in a two day 20/20 match.
Katy won the toss and headed into bat.
Tocumwal unfortunately started the game a few players short in the field.
Jeremy Packer and Logan White opened the bowling.
Packer came in with plenty of steam and enthusiasm and eventually ended his spell with 0/30 off four.
White struck with his first ball cleanly striking the back pad for an LBW and eventually finished with 1/10 off four.
Reuben Haley and Cooper Mangion came in as the second bowling pair.
Hayley bowled nice and tight forcing the batter to pop one up for him to take a caught and bowled.
Mangion also struck on both his first ball with a catch to Jeremy, and on his fourth ball with a bowler's wicket to raise Toc's spirots.
He finished his spell with an impressive 2/7 off two.
Hayley finished his day with a clean 1/7 off four overs.
Tom White and Sam Bennett rounded out the bowling pairs with 0/24 off four and 0/9 off two respectively to finish out Toc's 20 overs.
Some strong defence from Katy and a bit of loose fielding from Tocumwal saw Katy's run rate continue to tick over with them finishing the first day with 4/88.
Katy's opening bowlers did a bit of damage to Toc's batting line up.
Liam Sutton and Tom White opened the batting followed by Sam Bennett and Jeremy Packer.
Katy had Toc at 3/0 before some solid defence by White (10) saw Toc finally put some runs on the board.
Logan White (4) also fell cheaply popping up a catch.
Reuben Hayley remained solid with the bat showing his precise form and excellent technique disposing of any loose balls.
He maintained a solid run rate for Toc and finished the day on 31 not out.
Hayley was strongly supported by Rory Wills who played his role exceptionally well.
Despite not making runs Wills held his wicket well and will grow in confidence from his time spent on the pitch.
Cooper Mangion started well but unfortunately also popped one up to the keeper leaving Jess Bennett and Hayley both not out with Toc at 7/56 going into next week.
This weekend week Toc desperately need early wickets and will need good form with the remaining batters to chase down the runs.
The under-14s game was Tocumwal against Katunga at home in a two day match.
Toc opened the batting with Tom White (20) and Chase Dickens (13), to put Toc off to a good start.
After White was bowled, Liam Sutton came in to make another 22 runs.
Dickens was dismissed and Archie Chellew came in to make ten runs before being caught.
Sam White (0) and James White (1) came in to see out the last overs and left Katunga chasing 4/83.
James White and Archie Chellew opened the bowling, both coming away with a maiden over each.
White dismissed the openers early to get 2/21 off four overs, and Chellew also bowled well and ended up with 0/14 off four overs.
Liam Sutton took a catch in the field, but it wasn't enough to stop Katunga finishing the first innings two runs ahead on 2/85.
The under-12s played a Friday night match against Katamatite at home.
The under-12s are having lots of fun on Friday nights, and have plenty of fresh little faces eagerly learning the intricacies of the game.
This week's captain Skye Chellew led the team in a game that sees her continue to gain confidence every week.
Katy opened the batting and ended with 2/118.
Unfortunately for our team the top scorer for the game was Sam White (14) who was traded to the other team to even up numbers.
Archie Chellew (1) and Arlo Haley (4) opened the batting for Toc, and were followed by Imogen Jones (3) and Skye Chellew (1).
Newcomers Lincoln (1), Joel Harris (6), Taylor (2), Jack (4) and Layla Harris (2) are showing promising signs with the bat, and finished with Max White top scoring for the Bloods.
Unfortunately the win went to Katy but there were plenty of lessons learnt about what is needed to keep working on at training.