The Imperial Hotel Tigers scraped home for the win against the Tamba Industrial Bulls on Friday night to lock in a Gunnedah Automotive Twenty20 finals berth.
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After restricting the Bulls to 5-107 the Tigers had a few wobbles but got the runs with one wicket to spare.
“We certainly didn’t deserve to win,” Tigers co-captain Mitch Swain said.
“They played a lot better than us. They put us under pressure with their bowling, put the ball in good areas.”
Lachie Barton (11no) got them over the line after Russell Baker made 22 to rescue them from a middle order collapse and Andrew Osmond 21 at the top of the order.
Swain had switched the batting order around a bit to give a few of the batsmen a bit more of an opportunity, and while he knew they had some “pretty good batsmen” in the last three there were moments when he thought they might not get there.
Cameron Milne (3-20), Ash White (2-24), Ben Middlebrook (2-13) and Myles Conn (2-26) shared the wickets for the Bulls.
Middlebrook and White were their two main contributors with the bat with Middlebrook hitting 37 and White 23.
“Our bowling was outstanding. Blokes hit their lengths pretty well,” Swain said.
The McDonald’s Chargers meanwhile continued on their merry way, thrashing the Sign Print Stars in the other game.
After posting 5-143 on the back of handy knocks from Jake Vigor (41), Ryan Cooper (30), Farran Lamb (27) and Scott Clarke (27no) the Chargers bundled the stars out for 48, Tim Kelly (21) the only batsmen to reach double figures.