Old Boys hammered City United with the bat before finishing the job off with the ball to secure a double bonus point win in their Tamworth first grade clash at Dick Edwards Oval on Saturday.
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Adam Lole smacked 94 and Mitch Swain 93 to lift Old Boys to 4-288 when with just under five overs to play their innings was cut short by a storm.
The time lost left City with initially 36 overs to chase 289, but after a further delay due to the pitch being wet it was revised to 252 off 31.
Tight bowling early from Old Boys pinned them down to 0-56 after 10 overs, and left them with a ever-mounting task.
It became even tougher four overs later when Jack Richards and new signing Tyson Rennie combined to remove skipper Brad Smith for 38.
City’s hopes of chasing the runs effectively departed with him and while they managed to bat the overs out, with Pat Dwyer making 23 and Tom Fitzgerald 30, they couldn’t match the required scoring rate and finished with 5-114.
Simon Norvill had earlier set the tone with a quick-fire 30 before Lole and Swain heaped further pain on City with a 203 run second wicket stand. Both scored at better than a run a ball, with Lole pummeling 10 boundaries and five sixes in his 63-ball knock and Swain hammering 12 fours and six during his 85 ball stay.
Norvill also clouted two sixes, the three between them dispatching six balls into the Peel River.
“I thought Simon started us off well, and then Lole and Swainy had a 200 run partnership and put the pressure back on their bowlers,” Old Boys skipper Ben Middlebrook said.
“It was good to see and good to watch.”
It was a tough day for the City bowlers. Daniel Rae fared the best with 2-52 and ended Swain’s century hopes.
Wary of the weather, Middlebrook opted against using his frontline quicks – Swain, Josh Smith and Aaron Hazlewood, handing the new ball instead to Jason Stacpoole and Dan Bryant.
“I just wanted to get through our overs as quickly as possible before the storm hit,” he said.
They needed to get to 20 to constitute a game.
“We just bowled the guys off short runs,” he said.
“It worked out they did a good job.”
Richards continued his impressive form with 3-23, although the wicket wasn’t really turning.
“There was a lot of turn early when City bowled but the rain nullified that a bit,” Middlebrook said.
The double points were a big bonus, not only extending their lead at the top of the overall standings but pushing them up to equal second on the one-day table.