Article written by Grey Morris (Darwin, NT) who is a former Sports Editor at News Corporation
Vic Metro's greater talent pool in bowling and batting carried them to a comfortable seven-wicket win over the NT in the National Under-19 cricket titles being held in Adelaide.
A first innings collapse by the NT did not help their cause, falling to 9-97 before a courageous 64-run stand for the last wicket by No.9 Jack Appleton (31) and No.11 James Hatton (29no) got them to 161.
Charlie Bignell's 47 at the top of the batting lineup shone like a beacon, the left-handed opener hitting five boundaries in his 75-ball stay.
It was a fitting reward for the Palmerston youngster, who was unlucky to be judged lbw from the second ball he faced against Tasmania on Saturday.
The Victorians helped push the score past 150 by bowling 15 wides in the 24 extras they sent down.
But 161 was never going to be enough against the strong Metro side, opener Alex Turner's half century and a run-a-ball 36 by Reyaan Farooq setting the foundations for the win.
Strike coach Dylan Slater was full of praise for Bignell, Appleton and Hatton in the face of some very good Metro bowling.
"It just goes to show with James, who batted as good as I've seen him and Jack, it really doesn't matter where you bat in the order, you've just got to take your opportunities when they come along and score some runs," he said.
"Charlie in the opening role was very good as well, building a nice partnership with Archie McCormick before, unfortunately, they fell within three runs of each other.
"We didn't assess the conditions after batting first when we won the toss, losing wickets in clumps that definitely hurt us."
The Strike face another major test on Monday when they tackle defending champions NSW Metro.
NT v Vic Metro, Rd 3 - Vic Metro 3-164 (A Turner 54, C Howe 36no, R Farooq 36, R Percival 2-30) d NT 161 (C Bignell 47, J Appleton 31, J Hatton 29no, V Ramkumar 3-26, G Singh 2-22, B Toseland 2-38) by 7 wickets.