They’ll be chasing a gettable 212 for first innings points when they resume their Tamworth first grade competition clash with North Tamworth at Dick Edwards Oval on Saturday.
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After winning the toss and electing to bat the Redbacks never really seemed to get going and were bowled out for 211 with two overs remaining.
It was well below what skipper Michael Rixon had in his mind at the start of the day.
He would have liked something around 250.
“We’re about 40 short of what we were hoping for,” he said.
But it could have been worse.
“We stuck it out and got it to there,” he said.
“At one stage we were looking at 150.”
He and Adam Lole got them off to a solid start putting on 30 for the first wicket, of which Rixon made 20.
They lost their second at 48 but Lole and Joey Holt dug in and added 85 for the third wicket.
It was pretty slow going though. The game seemed to lull through the middle of the innings with the Redbacks scoring at about two an over, and Old Boys not really looking like taking a wicket.
Eventually they did with Old Boys skipper Ben Middlebrook having Holt stumped for 33 in the 52nd over.
The Redbacks’ innings wavered for a while afterwards as they lost 4-7 including Lole for 69.
But Mitch Holt (23) and Hamish Batley (20) did what they’ve often done and chipped in with runs down the order to get them up towards 200.
Jack Cameron (11no) and Brad Redshaw (10) then pushed them past it.
Rixon said the outfield was a bit slow and the wicket “was a little bit too-paced to drive” but didn’t think that was the reason they didn’t get the total they were wanting. It was a combination of a few things.
“We lost back-to-back wickets at times,” he said.
“That hurt us.”
Especially those wickets through the middle, which hindered their attempts to kick the run-rate up.
Middlebrook said they didn’t really seem to play aggressively until after tea.
Not that he was complaining about the score they kept Norths to.
“They’re the leaders of the competition and have got a really strong batting line-up,” he said.
“We’re very happy keeping them to 200.”
“Now we’ve got to perform with the bat.”
“But we’ve given ourselves half a chance.”
Chaise Crough is one of the reasons they’re in with a chance.
He continued to impress capturing 5-52 and reaping havoc through the middle order.
“Chaise bowled really well. But all the guys bowled well,” Middlebrook said.
“Fish (Brett Fisher) was good at the start and Will Howard was good in spurts.”
They got them the early wickets they wanted with Howard picking up Rixon and Fisher trapping Kris Halloran in front.
“They’re two of the form players in town. They were too good early wickets,” Middlebrook said.
He was their other wicket taker and finished with 3-44.
