OLD Boys will face up to the second half of the Tamworth District Cricket season clear leaders as they chase back-to-back titles and club championships in a season that has already seen them lift a trophy and a former player star for Australia.
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The Ben Middlebrook-captained side is sitting on top with 51.80 points, almost four points ahead of North Tamworth.
The Redbacks are also chasing the premiers in the one-day competition six points behind the lead with both tables in the same order.
Bective is sitting in third, almost 10 points shy of the lead, with Souths in fourth on 37.95 points.
City are in fifth, and while they have shown an occasional flashes of brilliance, they lack the consistency to climb the ladder while Wests are having a season they might rather forget, sitting on the bottom with one draw and six losses.
The loss of spearhead bowler Julian McGovern to English cricket this month can only add to their woes.
After winning the club championship last year for the first time in 30 years Old Boys added a War Veterans Cup to their cabinet, beating the Redbacks in the final last month to be the first club to win the revamped competition.
Former Old Boy Josh Hazlewood has had the town buzzing with his five wicket haul on debut for Australia in Brisbane and following selections, while brother Aaron has been terrorising local opposition with both ball and bat.
The Old Boys all-rounder leads the TDCA B&F table on 10 points, made even more amazing by the fact that he only plays every second week due to work commitments. Clear second on the table is electric opener and team mate Simon Norvill on six points, with South’s Angus McNeil and Bective’s Adam Jones sharing third on five points.
North Tamworth were leading the competition until Old Boys took over in the final round and then beat them in the WVC the following day.
The Redbacks will look to start to make up that ground against City United at Chaffey Park today.
Old Boys meanwhile will face a Bective-East side that has got quality right across the park, and with the addition of Col Smyth and Jared Abra to their bowling attack could be hard to stop on their day.
After winning the one day final last year over Old Boys and reversing the positions for the two-day final, Souths have slipped to fourth following their bowling stocks taking a hit in the off season.
With the likes of James Psarakis leading, Tom Groth behind the stumps, Nick Leyden with the bat, Angus McNeill with the new ball and several others, Souths could be the dark horse this season, and will be looking to start their run against West Tamworth at No.1 Oval.
Once again the big four look to be jostling for position in the new year and looking to make that top two and earn a second bite at the cherry come finals time. Armidale cricket is also resuming tomorrow with Easts the form side with six wins and two draws from 10 matches.
Last year’s joint premiers Hillgrove and City are tied second, six points behind the leaders with Ex-Services bringing up the tail.
City will get their chance at the leaders tomorrow at the Sportsground while the Colts will be looking to take the points over Ex-Services at Lambert Park and claim clear second.
East batsmen Todd Francis and Dean Moore have been in great nick, propelling the club to the top with some big scores and well played innings.
Francis has hit 327 runs at an average of 54.50 from his eight games, including a 112 not out, while Moore has hit three 50s to average 46.67 from nine games.
Amazingly Francis hasn’t hit a single six but is leading the boundaries with 46, while Moore has smashed seven maximums to lead that column.
There are only five rounds left in the ADCA season, although the one day final will be played on Australia Day before the two day semi-finals will be played on the weekend of March 14 and the final the following week.
Gunnedah District Cricket will also resume today, while the Narrabri season kicked off again last night with a T20 match between RSL and Civeo.
