Despite some superb bowling from the Hawks’ Rahul Krishna — including a hat-trick — Barooga did not do enough to get over the line, with Cobram running out a 62-run victor.
An impressive innings with the bat from Lachlan Hyde (71) and James Daniel (38) drove the Tigers to the win, with coach Adam Harwood praising the pair’s running between the wickets.
“It wasn’t too bad. I think we probably lucked out a bit, we only had three batsmen get into double figures, but two of them went on to make decent scores and put on a good partnership, so that was really good with Lachie Hyde and James Daniel,” Harwood said.
All out for 170 after 43.1 overs, Cobram’s performance was far from convincing, with the side losing six players for five runs at the end of the innings.
Despite the disappointing end to the innings the score of 170 would prove to be enough, after some solid bowling had the Hawks dismissed for 108.
Both sides had a number of players missing for the contest, with Barooga’s Riley Gow and Zac Moore notable outs, while Cobram’s Tyron Baden missed due to injury and a number of Tigers were out due to Schoolies
“I thought that we might struggle to contain them to 170, but it was a pretty good win in the end,” Harwood said.
“I think that probably evened it up a fair bit, I look forward to the rematch over two days, I think it will be a good game.”
The result keeps the Tigers on top of the ladder, while Barooga sits in fourth.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Tocumwal picked up a four-wicket away win over Katamatite, while Deniliquin downed Nathalia at Finley.
Each team will face one more match before the Christmas break, with two-day games set to be held across the next two weekends.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Harwood said regarding two-day cricket.
“I think our game style really works towards a two-day game, we haven’t played two-day cricket in, I think, three or four years, so we’re really looking forward to it and so are the players.
“They’re really wanting to have a crack at the 80 overs again and I think we’ll try and get a few back and put our best foot forward.”