Cricket: South Tamworth defeat Old Boys courtesy of strengthened batting

At least, that's the opinion of first grade captain Chris Skilton. And in their first round clash against Old Boys today, it appeared as though the strides the club has taken to address that imbalance has begun to pay off.

After losing the toss, Souths were sent in to bat by Old Boys on a green Riverside 1 wicket.

The ball did dart around as promised early, which saw Luke Smith and Daniel Lawrence both dismissed by Mitch Lincoln for ducks, but Josh Richards (33) and George Wilson (49) steadied the ship with a 69-run partnership.

"George Wilson batted fantastically and almost ticked over 50 runs," Skilton said.

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"Picking up Josh and George will certainly shore up the middle order. We also had a few people out today, like Tom Groth ... it'll be good to see how we progress. We want this to be the standard for us."

After Richards was dismissed, a run of Souths batters contributed starts, such as Charlie Stone (36), Conrad George (22), Skilton (13*) and Mat Beattie (10).

It was enough to push their total to 7-204 from 40 overs, which Skilton knew was always going to be tough for Old Boys to chase.

"It felt like we were on top for the majority of the game, which is really good. It's a great start for us," Skilton said.

Old Boys' chase began brightly despite losing opener Lawson Shepherd early.

Adam McGuirk (27) and Kyle Gallen (29) combined for a 50-run partnership, but once Gallen was dismissed, the wheels came off.

Conrad George (4-35), George Wilson (2-19), and Jelany Chilia (2-22) tore through Old Boys' middle and lower order and, despite an unbeaten last-wicket partnership between Tim Kensell (21*) and Jack Hatton (30), they were still 51 runs in arrears by the end of the innings.

It was an ideal way to start the season in the captain's eyes, who had very few complaints from the day.

"Ideally we would have liked to bowl them out," Skilton said.

"We didn't miss too many chances. We dropped a catch and might not have attacked another that we could have taken, but apart from that, it's a good result."

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