Nagambie chases down Numurkah’s total with relative ease, but is unable to scalp outright victory

By Liam Nash

Nov 19, 2023

No small effort: Nagambie’s Brayden Biggs was solid with the bat during a win over Numurkah at the weekend. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

It wasn’t perfect, but Nagambie has kicked off its two-day campaign on the right side of the ledger against Numurkah.

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Needing 65 runs for the win on Saturday the Lakers had a shaky start, but steadied to pass the Blues’ score of 113, reaching 176 all out before getting the ball out again in the hope of an outright victory.

Though it didn’t eventuate, Nagambie boosts into fourth on the ladder after finding its first win in close to a month.

The day began with plenty of hope from a Numurkah perspective.

With not many runs in the bank to defend, Tim Arnel got the Blues off to a flyer with the wicket of Mitch Winter-Irving for 21, and his brother Zac departed not long after through the industry of Riley Dawson.

The Lakers were five down as they rolled past Numurkah’s total and it was up to Tim Braybon to halt Nagambie’s momentum as he bowled Blair Taylor-Lloyd and Tyrone Muir in successive deliveries to find himself on a hat-trick.

THE GAME

Numurkah 113 (Liam Gledhill 53, Tim Arnel 15, Mark Nolan 6-27) lt Nagambie 176 (Benjamin Tarran 32, Brayden Biggs 29 not out, Tim Braybon 5-21)

Numurkah 3-59 (James Du Toit 43*, Riley Dawson 15*, Mark Nolan 2-35)

STAR PLAYER

Mark Nolan (Nagambie): Nolan was great for his eight poles, comfortably the best with the ball on either side. Though he didn’t have much of a say with the bat, Nolan led from the front on both days bowling-wise and gave his side the best chance of winning.

Brayden Biggs carved out a cool 29 not out batting at 10 to push his side to 176, while Braybon cleaned up the rest of the tail to finish with a five-for.

Then “Barney” came storming in.

Mark Nolan, who had taken six wickets the weekend prior, got rid of Kody Jackson and Raguvaran Aravinthan in the first two balls of the second innings to heighten the odds of an outright win.

However, James Du Toit (43 not out) and Dawson (15 not out) prevented total collapse despite Jordan O’Dwyer falling for two, adding to their personal average and nothing more.

Saturday’s loss was Numurkah’s second of the campaign, placed in stark contrast to its four games unbeaten streak to start the season.

The Blues have a chance to regroup over the next fortnight with the bye, while Nagambie will be out to go back-to-back when taking on a 2-4 Tatura side at Howley Oval.