A second successive half-century from Blake Scicluna highlighted a strong batting performance from Tamworth’s junior Blue and Gold sides as they clean-swept their Northern Inland Cricket Council Round 3 clashes on Sunday.
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The Blue sides hosted Armidale and the Gold sides Gunnedah with all six chalking up victories, and the Gold and Blue under-12s and Gold under-14s all amassing over 200.
The Gold 14s posted an impressive 8-246 in what co-coach Donny Lewington described as a “really pleasing performance with the bat”.
Charlie Fox led the way with a well-compiled 60. Logan Spinks also chipped in with 29 and Ryan Stewart, on debut, 23.
“The goal was always to bat the 50 overs and we did that,” Lewington said.
“We had a lot of good contributors. A lot of guys got 20s and we built partnerships.”
The visitors also gifted them 59 runs through extras, Claire McGuirk the pick of the bowlers with 2-26.
The Gold then struck early but Jaycob Price (57) and Ed Montgomery (30) had Gunnedah flying at 3-100 after 15 overs.
But Liam Bramley’s dismissal of Price sparked a torrent of wickets, as the visitors collapsed to be all out for 116.
Lewington noted that they kept their calm and took some good catches. Spinks backed up his efforts with the bat with 3-21, while Tom Aitken cleaned up the tail nabbing 3-2 and Bramley finished with 2-31.
The two 12s sides also surpassed 200 with the Gold posting 4-222 and the Blue 6-204.
Charlie Doyle and Henry O’Hehir both retired on 50 not out while Charlie Dawe was unconquered on 45 in what was a dominant display from the Golds.
They then routed Gunnedah for 84, Adam Veli-Gold and Ray Peatling’s 10 the best the visitors had to offer as Benjamin Murphy snared 3-7, William Bowman 2-6 and Mathew Beattie 2-10.
Scicluna followed an unbeaten 88 the round before against Inverell with 72 for the Blue.
Charlie Whale also chipped in with 42no, while Blake Wicks made 36 and Riley Gentle continued his good form with the bat with 30.
He and Scicluna put the Blue in good stead with an 80-odd run partnership for the second wicket, the two Blake’s then sharing a 50-odd run stand.
Tom Holmes (4-10) was then the standout with the ball as the Blue bowled Armidale out for 107 with two balls remaining in the game.
The Blue 14s also batted first and made 156 with Nick Mead hitting 35 and Ben Livingstone 34 after Ben Chick (21) and Adam Williams (17) had put on 40 for the first wicket.
Brock Parsons, Ben Heagney and James Phelps claimed two wickets a-piece for Armidale, who were in reply bowled out for 123 after losing their last four wickets for just eight runs.
Mitchell Duddy anchored the run chase with 50 at the top of the order, Heagney also chipping in with 26.
Sam Murphy (3-17), Mead (2-38), Deni Baker (2-15) and Heramb Dayananda (2-16) shared the spoils for the home side.
The bowlers stood tall for the Blue under-16s as they defended 101.
Lachlan Wesierski (34) and Jess Davidson (24) were the best with the bat for Tamworth, Kieran Wicks leading the Armidale charge with 4-17.
The Blue then bowled Armidale out for 90, Cotter Litchfield top-scoring with 31.
Oscar Spinks (3-14) topped the wickets for the Blue with Josh Attard, Joey Mead and Joey Ryan all chiming in with two.
The bowlers similarly set the win up for the Gold 16s, Kilian Apen and Tarlan Ward both picking up three wickets as they rolled Gunnedah for 107.
Zac Clarke was the shining light with the bat for the visitors with 31, only three batsmen making double figures.
Tamworth then reached the target in 30 overs with Jack Hamilton hitting 29, Callum Henry 27no and Tyhla Condrick 21.