NT U19s Secure Six-Wicket Win Over Tasmania

Article written by Grey Morris (Darwin, NT) who is a former Sports Editor at News Corporation

Aggressive batting and smart bowling were keys to the NT under-19s beating Tasmania by six wickets in the national cricket titles in Adelaide.

The Territory bowlers restricted a strong Tasmanian batting lineup to 141 after the Apple Islanders won the toss and batted before reaching their target in 26 overs.

In a game where every player in a black, white and ochre shirt contributed to the win, fast bowlers Josh Malone and Ryan Percival stood out with the ball and Suhas Challa and Max Menzies with the bat.

Malone destroyed Tasmania's middle order with his 4-21 from 10 fiery overs and Percival 2-35, including the big wicket of star batter Aidan O'Connor when he looked set for a big score.

Spin bowlers Malay Doshi and Jack Appleton also impressed by bowling a tight line that made the Tasmanians play at a lot of balls.

Challa's 56 from 64 balls included five boundaries and a big six over mid-wicket when the match was up for grabs.

Menzies set the standard early in the innings with a quickfire 28 from 29 balls, displaying some fine cover driving when he hit Tasmanian quick Mason Wright for four boundaries in two overs.

Strike coach Dylan Slater said the players had talked about the brand of cricket they wanted to play before the match started and proceeded to carry out their intentions from the first over.

"The boys executed their skills with ball and bat really well and deserved the win all-round," he said.

"The best thing about playing at the nationals is you're playing against the best cricketers in your age group, and we saw that today with Aidan O'Connor who played for the Prime Minister's X1 last week."

Slater had some special praise for Menzies' batting in the early overs when the NT had to set an early agenda against the Tasmanians.

"Max set the tone for us in the run chase when we required 142 runs and his batting and that of Suhas made sure we got those runs in only 26 overs.

The championships have a rest day on Saturday before meeting the strong Vic Metro side on Sunday.

Rd 2 _ NT v Tasmania: NT 4-142 (S Challa 56no, M Menzies 28, A McCormick 14no, A Boreddy 14) d Tasmania 141 (A O'Connor 45, H McHugh 38, J Malone 4-21, R Percival 2-35) by six wickets.