Tamworth headed into day two of the over 60 state championship in Penrith with one win from one start and looked set for a second a quarter of the way through the first innings of the match against Port Jackson.

Bede Maher (3-24) had ripped through the top order to have Port Jackson at 4-56 after 13 overs.

However, Port Jackson rallied to post a more than competitive 6-205.

“I thought they’d score about 170 but their last three batted really well, ran well between wickets and it got away on us a little bit,” captain Chriss Crowell said.

Crowell thought the 205 was still achievable and the captain along with Tom Kellett and Ron Radford all scored 40 retired to put Tamworth in the box seat.

Steve Massey (29) helped the score along even further but a late flurry of wickets hindered the chase.

Tamworth lost its first wicket in the 33^rd over to be 1-158.

As batsmen chased quick runs, more wickets fell and Tamworth finished at 7-188.

“We collapsed a big bit and it got away on us again,” Crowell said.

“We were in the game, then out of it and back in it again. It was a good game of cricket in the end.”

Meanwhile, a Tamworth over 50s team had a trial match against Narrabri on Sunday in preparation for the state championships in Armidale in a week and a half.

The Tamworth outfit played out a comfortable 43-run win against Narrabri with a number of batsmen searching for more time in the middle.

After batting first, four Tamworth batsmen retired along the way to a score of 140 at Narrabri.

Richard Rowlings (32*) was the best of the lot while Geoff Page (2-14) performed the best with the ball for the home side.

Tamworth’s bowlers were then at their economical best to seal the win.

Andrew Smart (23*) and Page (20*) weren’t able to be removed but the runs remained out of reach for Narrabri as Tamworth’s bowling unit made quick runs hard to come by.

Whale (2-8), Chris Hunt (2-19) and Brendan O’Connor (2-10) reaped the rewards of the tight bowling as Narrabri finished on 9-97.