By MATT ZELL

Heavy rain throughout the district threw local cricket into chaos for the weekend of 8 & 9 January with grounds keepers kept busy trying to prepare wickets.

Breelong headed to Baradine to take on the Magpies in extremely heavy and humid conditions.

Baradine won the toss and had no hesitation in sending the visitors in. This seemed like a bad decision with Breelong racing to 20 off the first 4 overs.

The prize scalp of Matt Everett in the 5^th over wrestled the momentum back to the home side and once he was joined in the sheds by Captain Liam Zell and stalwart Guy McAnally-Elwin for 11 & 1 respectively it was appearing to be a masterstroke.

Things went from bad to worse for the Bushrangers with star all-rounder Nathan Tuena succumbing to a calf injury and having to be assisted off the field.

Alex Sutherland and Henry Johnson then steadied the ship with a mature partnership of 31 before Sutherland was dismissed for a patient 20, leaving Breelong  @ 4/64.

Wickets then fell in quick succession as Baradine skipper Ben Hjort ripped a hole through the middle order and Breelong slumped to 7/68. This bought George Alchin to the crease who combined with Henry for a priceless 14 run partnership before Henry ran himself out for what would turn out to be a match winning 25.

George and Lachie Briggs then put on another 16 valuable runs before Lachie was out for 4. Tuena bravely re-entered the fray only to see Alchin dismissed the following over for 10.

Breelong were all out for 99 with the pick of the bowlers being Ben Hjort taking 4/16 with four other bowlers taking a wicket each. A special mention to young Orlando Bunner who took three exceptional catches, two of which were to dismiss the opening batsmen.

Baradine were in trouble early with some tight, slow opening bowling from veterans John Alchin & Matt Zell and found themselves under pressure with runs being hard to come by and a steady fall of wickets.

After 13 overs they were 4/13 & in need of a partnership. Alex Hunter & M Johnston put on 26 to bring them back into the contest.

The match then swung back in the visitors' favour with off spinning all-rounder Henry Johnson taking 3/10 to wrestle the ascendency back in Breelong’s favour. Johnson was on a hat trick only for George Alchin to steal the limelight with yet another direct hit run out from 30 metres.

The Baradine tail had no answer and capitulated rather quickly to be all out for 44 with Johnson being the pick of the bowlers. Alchin & Zell picked up two each and were supported by Liam Zell & Sutherland taking one apiece.

Alex Hunter was the only batsmen to reach double figures making a tidy 14.

A very special mention must go to the groundsman @ Baradine, with 2 inches of rain on Friday night he did a magnificent job of preparing a pitch and it is greatly appreciated by all who competed.

Eumungerie v USC Marthaguy & Coonabarabran v Town were both unfortunately washed out.

Gidgee & Curban played a deferred match on Sunday with Gidgee maintaining their good form, running out 6 wicket winners.

The unofficial points table is as follows:

Breelong 40

Gidgee 36

Town Services 33

Biddon-Tooraweenah 30

USC Marthaguy 30

Coonabarabran* 25

Baradine 24

Eumungerie* 24

Curban 22

Coona & Eumungerie have a deferred match to play this Sunday.

This weekend sees some very interesting contests where Baradine host Curban, Breelong take on Coonabarabran, USC Marthaguy have Coonamble, and Biddon Tooraweenah will welcome Town Services.

The Bendigo Bank first XI Brewery Shield team were denied the opportunity to show off their skills on Sunday with Bourke requesting a deferral due to a Covid outbreak. This match has been re-scheduled for Sunday 30^th January.

Thanks for reading, enjoy your cricket and I look forward to providing you a further update next week.