Tocumwal A-grade took on Deniliquin at home in round two of the Murray Valley Cricket Association.
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Tocumwal won the toss and elected to bat on the fresh new deck.
Cooper Harris (10) and Tom White started well, working hard through the early overs with the pitch being up and down for the bowlers who hit the deck hard.
Unfortunately, after Cooper fell, no-one really got going in the middle order, leaving Tom White to hold the innings together.
He batted with maturity beyond his years, playing intelligently, especially against spin.
It was especially great to watch him bring out his fantastic on drive on multiple occasions.
He only fell as the seventh man out for 27.
With many overs left, the tail managed to wag and allow us to take something positive out of the innings by batting out our overs, mainly due to Tom's efforts and those of the last wicket partnership worth 29 between Lucas Baron and Christina Roberts.
Both showed our top order how its done.
With the ball, we didn't quite execute our plans, and Deniliquin made us pay.
Brad Todd and Harry Hillier were particularly brutal against anything overpitched.
Lachlan Brennan managed to get a key wicket, but we didn't quite execute our plans.
We will have to rebuild for next week, with two games next weekend.
It's especially heartening to see the performances of the Tocumwal young players, with all the juniors stepping up in different areas.
C-grade
C-grade travelled to the overpopulated township of Yalca to face Nathalia.
We started off losing the toss and being sent into the field.
With some very tight bowling by Lachie McDonald and James White, we made Nathalia work for their runs.
Just as the openers looked to start attacking, Sam Bennett got a breakthrough, followed by Shaun Goldman.
Heading into drinks, Nathalia were 2-44.
Tocumwal were right in the match.
They just needed to take their chances and continue bowling in the right areas.
Nathalia started to get on top, but Tocumwal took the occasional wicket to slow them down.
At the end of 35 overs, Nathalia posted a respectable 5-137.
Wickets were taken by Sam Bennett, Shaun Goldman, Amal, James White and Daniel Bennett.
As we went out to bat, we were confident in our approach, opening with Sam Bennett and Brandon Meloury.
Some tight bowling from Nathalia restricted our openers and eventually Bennett (8) fell to a great delivery.
Bryce Meloury (2) was out next battling an ankle injury and was out trying to pick up the run rate.
Daniel Bennett (8) was out next and he and Brandon were settled in for a 30 run partnership, before Brandon also fell for 40.
A couple of quick wickets fell, including Kurt Chouffot and Daniel Bennett.
James White got some valuable time and experience being at the crease with the legend that is Ranjie Oliver.
In the end, Tocumwal batted their overs out but fell 40 runs short of the total.
Tocumwal played a very strong side who made the team work for everything.
The side has some positives from the game and some things to work on.
But all in all, the team will be fine and continue to build.
Under-17s
The under 17s started season 2025/26 against Nathalia.
Winning the toss, captain Tom White elected to bowl, with Lucas Baron and Declan Cameron both getting early wickets Tocumwal were on top.
With Lachie Packer getting his first wicket in Tocumwal colours and James White (1-12) getting a wicket also, the pressure was on.
Enter James Winn for his first two wickets for the under-17s.
Tocumwal were on a roll, with everybody doing their job, and the team dismissed Nathalia for 109 runs in the 33rd over.
Lucas Baron was on fire with the ball and in the field, with figures of 3-9 off seven with three catches and James Winn 2-14 off three overs.
All the team should be proud of their efforts.
It was then Tocumwal’s turn at the crease.
The opening pair of Tom White and Sam Bennett got us off to a good start before Tom was out for 13, leaving us 1-42.
Declan Cameron joined Sam at the crease, adding 33 more runs before Sam was out for a solid 21.
We passed Nathalia in the 23rd over only four wickets down, with Declan Cameron scoring 42 runs off 37 balls not out.
Well done lads on your great win.