Northern District Rangers collapse against Hawkesbury
A LATE order batting collapse has the Northern District Rangers’ first grade cricket match with Hawkesbury in the balance after the opening day at Mark Taylor Oval last Saturday.
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A LATE order batting collapse has the Northern District Rangers’ first grade cricket match with Hawkesbury in the balance after the opening day at Mark Taylor Oval last Saturday.
With skipper Andy Harriott (65) and Jonte Pattison (79) at full cry midafternoon at 3-216, the Rangers threatened to take the match away from the visitors.
Northern District, however, lost their last seven wickets for 76 to spin twins Arjun Nair (3-81) and Usman Qadir (6-111) to be bowled out for 296.
Hawkesbury start this Saturday at 0-10 in reply.
The Rangers’ second grade have a hefty run chase ahead of them in their match at Owen Earle Oval, Richmond, after Hawkesbury made 318 batting first.
Skipper Dan Friedrich took 5-62 before being bowled by boom Pakistani spinner Salman Irshad just before stumps to have the Rangers starting play at 1-8.
Superb bowling from Joe Hiley (4-78) and Jack Shelley (4-57) saw the Rangers bowl out Hawkesbury for 228 in third grade at Asquith Oval, before the visitors struck back late in the day to have Northern District struggling at 3-34 when stumps were drawn.
After taking early wickets, the Rangers have a battle in fourth grade at Bensons Lane, Richmond, with Hawkesbury making 8-259 at close.
The Rangers struck back in the fifth grade match at Storey Park after being bowled out for 174 to have Hawkesbury tottering at 5-52 at stumps, with Matt Johnson taking two wickets for Northern District.
The Rangers will back up on Sunday to play Blacktown in their last T20 Cup qualifying match at Joe McAleer Oval, Blacktown, at 2:30pm — needing to win to secure a semi-final playoff berth.
RANGERS T20 TITLE DEFENCE
The Rangers’ First Grade T20 Cup defence is back on track after two solid wins in their matches at Mark Taylor Oval the previous weekend.
The Rangers trounced Sydney University in the early game — with stand in skipper Jon Whealing making 55 off 44 balls as Northern District made 5-162, before bowling the students out for just 95 with Jonte Pattison taking 4-33 with his leg spinners.
Northern District then accounted for the ACT Comets in the later game. Whealing again stood out with 56 from 42 balls faced, before the ACT were restricted to 8-127 in reply. Rangers quick Ross Pawson starred with the ball in taking 4-24.
The Rangers are now back in the Sydney Thunder Conference Top Four with two wins from three starts, and can clinch a semi final berth with a win over Blacktown in their last qualifying game on December 3.
Sunday’s two wins were the Rangers’ first official wins in any form of the game this season, and made up for the disappointment of the shock loss to Western Suburbs at Pratten Park, Ashfield — with Wests scored 6/216 to chase down the Rangers’ moderate 215 with seven overs to spare.
The Rangers had better luck in lower grades against Wests last Saturday with three wins from the four lower grades — highlighted by a heart stopping one wicket win in second grade at Mark Taylor Oval, where last batsmen Charlie Taylor and Ajay Singh scored the last 19 runs unbroken to get Northern District over the line at 9/200 to beat Wests’ 197.