Cricket sidesteps flood conditions to return to the Riverina

Foot-long carp were jumping out of newly formed streams, and ovals became islands, but rising rivers and flood warnings couldn’t stop at least some country cricket from going ahead.

La Nina rain events have caused havoc throughout the T20 World Cup and that impact has been felt at the local level.

Many of the opening rounds in the various cricket competitions were wiped off due to the weather throughout the Riverina, yet on Saturday, all matches scheduled in the Hume Cricket League went ahead without issue, as did all bar one of the Tumut District Association fixtures.

In Hume cricket, results were close as Lockhart 4/116 defeated Culcairn 115, Brocklesby-Burrumbuttock 9/68 made hard work of Walla Walla’s 67, Holbrook endured a long day as they fell for 149 chasing Rand’s 216, and ladder leaders Osborne made it two wins from two matches (to go with a pair of washouts) as they comfortably chased down Henty’s 123 inside 33 overs at the Osborne Sportsground.

Henty Captain Daniel ”Buddy” Terlich won the toss and elected to bat, only to watch on as the Henty innings had the momentum of an automatic driver realising the car they’ve nicked is a
manual, bunny hopping on the Osborne Sportsground as they lost wickets periodically on their way to an almost-defendable total.

Shannon Terlich steered the ship, opening the bat with 35, Buddy chipping in with 26 before both were dismissed by Darren Howard. Then Sam Terlich helped make it a family affair with a handy 22 at No. 7 to help Henty to 123.

Osborne skipper Edward Perryman made sure of the chase himself with 62* to go with 36 from Andrew Smith to rein in the total only four wickets down with seven overs remaining.

Henty 1st Innings 10/123
Shannon Terlich 35, Darren Howard 8 Overs 2/18
Buddy Terlich 26, Joshua McDonell 8 Overs 2/21
Sam Terlich 22, Joe Perryman 8 Overs 2/30
Osborne 1st Innings 4/126
Edward Perryman 62*, Cameron Terlich 8 Overs 1/14
Andrew Smith 36, Buddy Terlich 5 Overs 1/24
Ryan Collins 13*

The Tumut District Association fixtures saw a mix of results: Gundagai vs the Lippers was washed out, while perennial grand finalists Coolac managed 9/198 with the bat and then devastated Adelong Donkeys with the ball, knocking them over for 37.

The competition finally welcomed its newest club, the Murrumbidgee Mankadders, whose first three fixtures had been lost to rain, only to be unceremoniously hammered by Tumut Plains by 109 runs.

Coolac 1st Innings 9/198 40 Overs
Andrew Keatinge 64, Ben Hardwick 6 Overs 4/24
Cameron Faddy 46, Luke Berkrey 9 Overs 2/44
Luke Graham 37*, Jordy Maher 10 Overs 1/38
Adelong 1st Innings 37 13.1 Overs
Corey Wilson 8, Duane Shawcross 5 Overs 5/9
Luke Berkrey 5, Caleb Piper 5 Overs 2/21
Brian Nuss 6, Thomas Sharman 1.1 Overs 1/3

In the past three summers, the TDCA has lost matches due to bushfires, COVID and severe wet weather as La Nina brought flood warnings.

Cricket is a lot like trainspotting – to outsiders how this particular endeavour would be considered fun is impossible to grasp. Like the man in the gutter looking at the stars, cricketers look at global catastrophes and ask, ‘Yeah, but what is actually stopping us from playing cricket?’.

A newly formed creek welcomed the cricketers of the Plains and Mankadders as they made their way into the ground, the Tumut River banks were peaking and Blowering Dam was over
capacity, which saw a new waterway formed right in front of a historic match underway in the TDCA.

Plains stand-in skipper Nathan Butt won the toss and elected to bat. The Mankadders were two short in the field, as their wicketkeeper took a chance on Apple Maps and followed a pin labelled ”Tumut Plains” all the way to Talbingo.

As he enjoyed a Saturday country drive, his salmon mates were being cheekily manoeuvred around the paddock as Plains went to drinks four down for 98 thanks to key contributions from
the top order of Jones and Smith. After drinks Kevin Keough and Butt motored that up towards 200 as the Mankadders could not stop leaking runs.

Joshua Pinn and Hayden Emerson were the pick of the bowlers, grabbing three each, and Liam McCarthy and Josh Williams performed economically without luck.

In reply, Mitch Henman took the new ball and strangled the Mankadders, opening with 20-straight dot balls.

He took the key wicket of the dangerous-looking Hayden Emerson (21), out LBW with a ripper inswinger crashing into his pads. As he toiled, his partners at the other end, Jacob Thomas, brother Myles Henman and skipper Nick Butt, grabbed the wickets of Flynn (0), who was caught Smith, bowled Thomas; Ryan (14), caught Smith, bowled Butt; Liam McCarthy, caught behind; and Nick West, bowled Myles Henman.

The Mankadders’ chase never really got going, slumping to 3/51 at drinks and all out 99.

Tumut Plains 8/208, 40 Overs
N Butt 58, Hayden Emerson 3/28 from 6
K Keough 38, Josh Pinn 3/45 from 7
P Jones 19, Dizzy 1/35 from 9

Mankadders 99, 32.5 Overs
M Hargreaves 24, Simon Smith 3 Overs 3/11
H Emerson 21, Myles Henman 5 Overs 2/11
D Ryan 14, Mitch Henman 10 Overs 1/14