MANILLA face a major battle when they host the Tamworth Second XI in tomorrow’s MA Connolly Cup semi-final at Brady Park, Manilla.
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They tackle a side bristling with batting and bowling talent, with five of the Tamworth batsmen in the top 12 of the current Tamworth first grade batting aggregates and three of the bowlers in the top 10 bowling aggregates.
Aaron Hazlewood is one of three pacemen to have claimed 20 wickets so far this season.
Only South Tamworth’s Angus McNeill (21) has more than Hazlewood and North Tamworth pair Adam Greentree and Adam Mills.
Hazlewood has taken those 20 wickets at a cost of 9.95 runs per wicket to have the best average amongst the top 20 bowlers.
Fellow pacemen in tomorrow’s semi-final, Will Howard (14) and Ben Semmler (14) are in the top 10 wicket-takers, with Howard snaring his wickets at an 18.57 average and Semmler at 19.36.
Troy Osborne, who also features in the top 12 batsmen, has taken nine wickets at an average of 18 to lie 20th in the bowling.
He is 10th on the batting aggregate with 208 runs at 26 after opening the batting for South Tamworth all season.
His sister, Erin, also played a big role in the NSW Breakers winning both the 50-over and T20 national titles in the past week.
“Ossie has been bowling well for us and Souths too this season,” Tamworth skipper Ben Middlebrook said.
“Just about everyone bowls in this team and we bat right down.
“We’ve got a couple of spinners too (Jack Richards, Richie O’Halloran) so we’ve got quite a lot of options.”
Middlebrook is also a slow bowling option as well as being one of the main top order bats.
He’s currently third on the Tamworth first grade aggregate batting with 284 runs at 35.50, just 13 runs adrift of West Tamworth skipper Tim Kensell (297 at 59.40)).
Old Boys teammate Adam Lole is ninth with 216 runs at 41.30 followed by Osborne and Richie O’Halloran (198 runs at 28.29) and Matt Everett (191 runs at 31.83).
Old Boys will supply a number of players to both the Manilla and Tamworth teams tomorrow.
The defending first grade premiers currently lead the first grade premiership and one-day tables.
Old Boys tackle City United at No 1 Oval today, North Tamworth match up against West Tamworth (Chaffey Park) and Bective-East Bulls play South Tamworth at Dick Edwards Oval.
TAMWORTH FIRST GRADE TABLE: Old Boys 66.80 (nett run rate 1.5125), North Tamworth 62.86 (.5834), Bective-East 50.24 (.8959), South Tamworth 43.95 (.1919), City United 27.85 (-1.1694), West Tamworth 15.31 (-1.9608).
TAMWORTH ONE DAY TABLE: Old Boys 38 (nett run rate 2.0706), North Tamworth 32 (1.5128), Bective-East 23 (.7160), South Tamworth 15 (-.5961), City United 9 (-1.6998), West Tamworth 3 (-1.8247).