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A STUNNING opening spell from teenage paceman Lachlan Davidson consigned Old Boys to their third successive Tamworth First Grade One day Final loss at No. 1 Oval Friday night.
Sixteen-year-old Davidson had Old Boys wicketkeeper Abel Carney caught in the slips by Bulls captain Adam Jones off the first ball of the game and then sent OB captain Ben Middlebrook packing the very next ball when Bulls keeper, James Haling, caught the Old Boys skipper.
Old Boys were dismissed for 148 and then Bulls, with skipper Adam Jones providing an unbeaten 65, reached 4-154 with five and half overs to spare.
Davidson’s brilliant 5.5 over spell yielded 5-24 from the outstanding young firebrand, who also snared Aaron Hazlewood (25), Mitch Swain (24) and Josh Smith (9) while Rod Fensbo (2-24), Harrison Kelly (1-25), Brad Jenkinson (1-34) and skipper Jones (1-37) also chipped in with Jenkinson claiming the prize scalp of Adam Lole (34).
Hazlewood and Simon Norvill (19) seemed to have dug Old Boys out of the 2-0 hole and put on 46 before Davidson struck a third time while Lole and Mitch Swain added 38 for the sixth wicket before Jenkinson removed the left-handed charity shaving Lole.
The Bulls had an early fright too with young opener Jye Paterson lbw to Aaron Hazlewood for a duck from his two balls to be 1-1 in the first over.
However, Harrison Kelly hit out (31 off 20) to post a 38-run second wicket partnership with Nick Pearson (19) before Adam Jones (65no off 88 ball) and tall teenager Toby Whale (32) put together a 75-run third wicket partnership to snuff out OB’s hopes.
Jones ended the game with his third six of the innings, shooting Jack Richards (1-25) over the mid-wicket fence.
The Bulls skipper hit four fours and three sixes and was also named man of the match, although he passed most of the credit on to Lachlan Davidson and his team-mates.
“It was a dream start,” Jones said as he enjoyed a quiet celebration in the No. 1 Oval northern dressing shed.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything better.
“Two wickets with the first two balls, Lachlan was absolutely brilliant. To do that and he’s only 16.”
Jones said Norvill and Hazlewood provided some batting worries when they were “going at eight an over” but overall it was a “good team effort from the start”.
Davdison was soaking in the winning vibe too.
“It’s a pretty good feeling,” the outstanding young paceman said.
For Old Boys the third successive loss had a silver lining.
“We’ve lost the last two (South Tamworth and North Tamworth) as well and then won the premiership,” Norvill said after the match.
Old Boys skipper Ben Middlebrook said luck was not on his team’s side.
Losing 2-0 off two balls wasn’t in his side’s script but Norvill and Hazlewood made quick runs in a rapid reply.
“We wanted to be aggressive early with the bat,” Middlebrook said.
“Azza hits a six and gets out, Adam hits a four and gets out. 148 was enough runs but we had no luck. It ran at about 95 to 5 per cent tonight, nothing seemed to go our way. Bective were too good and were the best team on the day.”