It was tight, but the local side opened up the Tamworth Over 67s Cricket Carnival with a win on Monday.
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Tamworth – which is a side made up primarily of Tamworth and Quirindi players – took on the Western Wildfires – who won the toss and elected to bat – at Riverside 1.
The Wildfires scored at a steady rate with seven batsmen scoring in the teens or the 20s.
Despite the amount of batsmen putting in solid performances, the Wildfires were restricted to 159 runs after their 40 overs.
Tamworth vice-captain Peter Virgen was confident his side could reach 160 runs.
“I thought it was doable,” Virgen said of the target.
“Getting into the 160s and 170s would have made it a bit hard but 159 – I was quite happy with.”
Virgen’s confidence sky-rocketed quickly as Tamworth went out to bat.
Col Barton (16) and Mike Cashman (30) – who will travel to Adelaide next month with Virgen for the over 70s national titles – led by example before Phil Smith scored a quickfire 25.
Virgen himself scored a handy 14 with the rest of the middle order chipping in with some handy runs.
This early batting set Tamworth up for victory.
“We only had to get two an over in the last eight or nine overs,” Virgen said.
Davies (17*) and Yates (22) also chimed in to help steer Tamworth over the line.
“It was a good team effort and a very competitive match,” Virgen said.
Tamworth will have the day off on Tuesday while the Western Wildfire will take on the Bushrangers at Riverside 1 from 10am.