Mitchell Swain: The Old Boys captain is not happy

Old Boys' first-year captain described the side's past two matches - which they lost - as "probably the two worst games of cricket that we've played in the last eight years, fielding and bowling wise".

"We've been very, very bad - and teams have put a fair few runs on us," he said, adding: "We know where we've got to be better."

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The reigning three-time premiers are coming off a 65-run one-day loss to Bective East, which followed a 44-run loss to West Tamworth.

Despite that, Old Boys sit second on the ladder - two points behind North Tamworth with three rounds remaining before the finals.

Swain said Old Boys - winners of seven of the past eight premierships - were "rebuilding as a club and as a side".

"When you're a club on the rebuild," he said, "you've got to accept that you're gonna have some losses like that [against Bective and Wests] and try and be better."

Swain said it was "exciting for Tamworth cricket that we're not blowing teams out of the park any more, [that] we're not winning consistently all the time".

"And that's probably good for the comp, if I'm being realistic," he added.

Fifth-placed South Tamworth have only won three matches this season, but are just three points behind fourth-placed West Tamworth.

Swain believes that Souths "are actually the best team in the comp" on their day.

He said: "They've got a lot of experience, a lot of very good hitters of the ball - and they've got Bryan Warren and Jelany [Chilia] ... a couple of really good bowlers."

Elsewhere on Saturday, Wests and City United meet at Riverside 2 and Bective and Norths clash at No 1 Oval.

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