In the Murray Valley Cricket Association A-grade, the Deni Rhinos hosted two one-day matches.
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The Rhinos needed to win each match to give themselves a chance to make the finals, with only one two-day match also remaining in the home and away season.
On Saturday, the Rhinos played the third-placed Barooga in a final like fixture.
The Rhinos won the toss and elected to bowl at Memorial Park.
The home side were off to a good start when Rory Bartlett had Riley Gow out, caught and bowled for 2 off the fourth ball in the first over.
Bartlett then removed other opener Murphy Stephens when he was caught by 6 by Anthony Bradley in the ninth over.
This brought together Barooga’s Crue Lucas and the key wicket of captain Riyaad Henry.
In the eighteenth over, Lucas was run out by Boddie Arthur backing up from the bowlers end for 12.
Zach Dunn joined Henry in the middle and the two battled through the middle overs.
In his second spell Bartlett had Dunn out for 22 caught by Lachlan Holloway off the last ball of the 33rd over.
Heading into the final three overs Charlie Hillier got Henry out playing one of his few loose shots for the innings caught by Andrew Hogan for 68 off 121 balls.
Other set batter Harrvey Johnson was out at the start of the penultimate over after a quickfire 40 of 30 balls bowled by Andrew Hogan.
Hillier then got a wicket from the final ball of the innings, getting Jono Oliver out for a run a ball 6 caught by Charlie Paton for while Hugh Sutton remained 3 not out.
Barooga set the Rhinos 7/175 from their 45 overs at just under four runs per over required.
After a nine ball first over, Henry struck in the second over getting Griegan French out for 1 caught by Riley Gow.
This brought opener Tom McCallum and new batter Charlie Hillier together at the crease.
The pair hit the ball around the ground with regularity before the 15th over.
Then just before the first drinks break Jono Oliver had Charlie Hillier out with a slight edge caught by wicketkeeper Zach Dunn for 16.
After drinks, Charlie Paton was restarting before getting caught hitting straight to Codi Bowden at point for 2 off Kohen Haddrell.
In the 26th over, Tom McCallum after hitting big he was out after going that way one too many times, finally caught at cow corner off the leg spin of Sam Leigh for 43.
In the 31st over, Andrew Hogan was given out LBW from Henry’s bowling when a ball jagged back in.
Lachlan Holloway and Brad Todd built before Holloway was bowled by Leigh for 12.
Todd was then also out, caught hitting to point off Oliver to Lucas.
Anthony Bradley joined Boddie Arthur in the middle and with five overs to go needed 26 runs with three wickets in hand.
Three balls into the 40th over, Bradley was then out for 2 caught by a great reflex catch by Dunn behind the stumps off Oliver.
This brought Bartlett to the crease with Arthur and 24 runs required from four overs.
After Henry’s next over, the Rhinos needed 22 from three overs.
Bartlett was then removed by a full straight ball by Oliver for bringing Jonty Tubb to bat.
At the end of the 43rd over, the Rhinos needed 17 from the last two overs.
Spurred on by the crowd, the Rhinos pair of Arthur and Tubb scored 10 off the penultimate over bowled by Henry with a combination of a three, singles and extras.
The Rhinos now need seven runs from the last over with one wicket in hand.
The over was to be bowled by Oliver and started with a wide.
Then needing six runs off six balls the pair managed a run a ball of the next three balls including a potential caught behind that was given not out much to the dismay of Barooga.
The Rhinos needed three to win off the final three balls when Tubb hit a convincing leg glance into the leg side but coming back for the second run was run out at the strikers end by some good fielding.
Ultimately, this saw the Rhinos fall just short by two runs with two balls remaining.
A-grade versus Tocumwal
On Sunday, the Rhinos faced a winless Tocumwal A-grade side at home in a one-day match.
Tocumwal won the toss and elected to bowl first.
The Rhinos got off to a flyer with openers Griegan French and Tom McCallum.
At the first drinks break after 15 overs, the pair were 0/88.
McCallum was the first to depart in the 16th over, caught and bowled for 30 by Tocumwal captain Reilly Rennick.
Charlie Hillier came to the crease with French before the introduction of the leg spin of Andrew Lean brought some wickets.
Hillier was out, caught behind by Rod Meloury off Lean for 9.
Charlie Paton then came to the crease and hit the ball around before getting caught out on the boundary by Andrew Arthur off Rennick’s bowling for 13.
Andrew Hogan was next to the crease but was bowled by Lean in the next over for 4.
The set batter of French was also then dismissed by Lean two overs later for 76 off 74 balls, caught at slip by Peter Harrison.
New batters Lachlan Holloway and Jonty Tubb got through to the second drinks break at 30 overs without another loss at 6/164.
From there Tubb was removed by Lean caught by Archer Chellew without scoring and Holloway was given out LBW from Lean’s bowling for 13 to give him a five wicket haul.
The Rhinos other experienced campaigners then came out to bat, with Brad Todd scoring 34 off 39 before being caught by Cooper Harris off Josh Wraight’s bowling.
Stephen Marshall was also out without scoring, bowled by the off spin of Peter Harrison.
The remaining batters after 45 overs were Boddie Arthur 23 not out and Anthony Bradley 7 not out.
Altogether, the Rhinos posted a total of 9/225 from their 45 overs.
The total proved too much for the Tocumwal side to chase, with Harrison’s 27, Wraight’s 21 and Harris’ 11 the double-digit scores for Tocumwal.
Rory Bartlett and Lachlan Holloway had three wickets each, with Charlie Paton taking two.
Stephen Marshall also claimed a wicket in his return to the A-grade side, as did Tom McCallum from one ball bowled, caught by Marshall.
Overall, the Rhinos won by 127 runs to stay around fourth position on the ladder.