MACKAY (Queensland, Australia): With just one match to go, the round robin stage of the 2026 edition of the National Indigenous Cricket Championships (NICC) is poised in an interesting manner here on Saturday.
The last game of Round 7 of the round robin stage is to be played between New South Wales and PNG Barramundis on Saturday evening. It will decide who face Western Australia in the title clash on Sunday – if New South Wales win, then they will go through on the basis of better net run rate. However, if New South Wales lose, then Victoria, already at second place in the table, will enter the title clash.
Western Australia have topped the table with 13 points from their 7 matches, and have already entered the final. Victoria are placed second with 9 points from their 7 matches with a net run rate of 1.009. New South Wales is currently placed second with 7 points from 6 matches and a net run rate of 1.309. Thus, they have a very strong chance of entering the final – if they win against PNG Barramundis, they will have 9 points, the same as Victoria, but will go through on the basis of a better net run rate. If they lose, however, they will finish on second place with 9 points. PNG Barramundis, participating in the tournament on invitation, are not eligible for points or for a place in the final match. Hence, the tussle is between New South Wales and Victoria.
Earlier in the day, Victoria moved up the table with an emphatic win over South Australia. Tasmania also moved up with a win over Northern Territory, while Western Australia only underlined their dominance with a win over defending champions Queensland, who made a tame exit after finishing at 5th place with 5 points. They lost 4 of their 7 matches, while earning 4 points from their 2 wins and 1 point from an abandoned game.
Tasmania blanked out Northern Territory by a whopping 176 runs. Batting first, Tasmania raced to 220 for 4 in their 20 overs thanks to an unbeaten 134-run blitz by Brayden DeVries (64 balls, 10 x 4, 9 x 6). Tasmania were rattled early when they lost opener Josh Walmsley with the score on 9. However, but then DeVries joined Jack Pearce to put on a massive 125 for the 2nd wicket. Pearce was dismissed at 134, and Tony Hutton scored a duck to make an exit shortly afterwards at 138. DeVries and Aidan Bulger (28 off 19 balls, 2 x 4, 1 x 6) then added 50 runs for the 4th wicket. This left Lucas Kamaric (3 off 3 balls) to play a mute spectator as DeVries continued his onslaught from the other end as Tasmania finished on 220. An overwhelmed Northern Territory limped to 44 all out in just 10 overs. As many as 3 of their batsmen, including opener Daniel Fett, scored ducks. Caleb Brewer finished with 5 for 10 in 3 overs. Eli Sheean scalped 3 for 20 from 3 overs, while Russi Sturzaker finished with 2 for 7 from 2 overs.
In another match, Victoria comfortably beat South Australia by 8 wickets. Batting first, South Australia could manage only 90 for 9 in 20 overs. Pat Jackson scalped 4 for 21 in 4 overs. In reply, Victoria coasted to 91 for 2 in 11.2 overs. Opener Damon Egan remained unbeaten on 55 off 34 balls (8 x 4).
Western Australia comfortably beat Queensland by 6 wickets. Batting first, Queensland scored 166 all out in 19.4 overs. Openers Dylan McLachlan (72 off 36 balls, 11 x 4, 3 x 6) and Jaecob Prien (11 off 13 balls) gave Queensland a good start, adding 85 runs for the 1st wicket. However, McLachlan’s departure triggered a collapse as Queensland lost 3 more wickets with the score on 87 as Koby Williams and George Fisher scored ducks, facing only one ball each. Queensland never quite recovered from this setback, losing wickets at regular intervals. D’Arcy Short scalped 3 for 32 runs from 4 overs. Western Australia did not have it easy either as they got off to a bad start, losing their first wicket at 12 and the second at 21. However, Bevan Bennel came to the rescue as he hammered an unbeaten 83 off 60 balls (7 x 4, 4 x 6) even as Short lent him a helping hand, chipping in with 32 off 18 balls (1 x 4, 3 x 6).
Earlier in the day, Western Australia ended the winning streak of PNG Barramundis to enter the finals while defending champions Queensland suffered their third defeat and got pushed to the brink of elimination.
The final match will be played on Sunday in one-day limited overs format.
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