Tallarook Cricket Club’s senior A Grade side made its way up to Bendigo for the Kookaburra Cup on Sunday winning one of two matches.
The Kookaburra Cup is an annual competition in T20 format for premiers from the seven associations within the Northern Rivers region encompassing Bendigo, Shepparton, Goulburn Murray, Murray Valley, Seymour District Cricket Association, Emu Valley, and Upper Loddon.
The ‘Rook’s first game of the day ended with a win against Kingower Cricket Club at Strathdale.
Tallarook won the toss, electing to bowl and was off to a promising start with Xavier Arandt bowling out Kingower’s opening batsman for one.
With Kingower’s best partnership just 32, Tallarook cut through the remaining batsmen to have them all out for 79, including three ducks.
Watts and Arandt took three wickets and a maiden each, with Arandt ending on 3/9.
Tallarook’s Josh Rudge and Topham opened the batting with a partnership of 61 before Topham was bowled, and Watts came in to finish the game early with the ‘Rook making 1/84 off 11.3 overs to win the game.
Rudge top-scored with 37 runs off 42 balls, while Topham contributed 24 and Watts six.
The win saw Tallarook move into the second game against United Cricket Club on Sunday afternoon, who earlier defeated Strathfieldsaye Jets.
Tallarook won the toss and elected to bat, with Topham dismissed early for just four runs, while Rudge and Watts put on a partnership of 26 before the skipper was caught.
It was a tough day out for the rest of the batting order and Tallarook managed 7/75.
United started well, making 27 before Leigh Irving took a wicket and was shaping up to be a close match.
But a 22-run United partnership followed by a 17-run effort took United to 4/78, giving them the win.
Watts said it was a great day for the side to measure their skills.
“It was great to test ourselves against the best clubs from across the Northern Rivers region,” he said.
“Having not played much T20 cricket, unlike other competitions, it was a bit of a new experience for our boys.
“They handled themselves really well in the first game, getting a big win over Kingower. We bowled tight with Xav Arandt the pick of the bowlers with three wickets in a tidy spell [and] Rudgey helped us get over the line comfortably with the bat.
“United were tougher opponents in the second game. It was incredibly tight but just needed another 10 to 20 runs on the board.
“It was a great experience for our club. We represented the association well and we look forward to more T20 cricket in the SDCA.”
