The second day of the Kookaburra Boys Junior Strike League saw the Northern Territory take on Cricket for All in a 50-over fixture at DXC2.
Batting first, the NT side got off to a flying start with Captain Ralph Stephens (Darwin) following up on his impressive 73 in game one with another score of 66, which included 9 fours and 1 six.
Contributions from Waratah’s Ty Jennings (44) and Tracy Village’s Dhruv Shandilya (28) had the hosts in a solid position at 2/150, before a flurry of wickets throughout the middle-overs led to a collapse of 9/201.
Some late hitting from Tracy Village’s Lucas Nixon (20*) and Nightcliff’s Riley Suter (11*) in the final overs lifted the NT to 9/226 from their 50-overs, with William Shaw the main wicket-taker with figures of 3/38.
After the innings break, Cricket for All started well with Cambell Hately (28) and Archie Crawford (17) finding the boundary regularly, before a bowling change to Pint’s Billy O’Toole (2/23) changed the momentum of the game, as he claimed both openers in quick succession.
Southern District’s Deepanshu Panwar (3/40) and his brother Angad Panwar (1/15) combined with regular wickets to leave the visitors at 7/130, before the familiar face of Reehan Sundar (Southern Districts) and Caelan Ryan combined for a 72-run stand to take the game to the final overs.
Suter (2/44) claimed both Sundar and Ryan late – leaving the game on a knife’s edge at 9/219 off 48 overs – and it came down to the composure of number 10 batter Lewis Gentle (8*) to get Cricket for All over the line with just 5 balls remaining.
Game three will see NT take on Victoria Big Cats at Cazalys Arena.
Click here for the full scorecard.