With only two A-grade games taking place at the weekend, fans of Murray Valley Cricket Association could be forgiven for thinking it would be a quiet weekend on the field.
However, it proved to be anything but.
Two cracking matches have had Barooga drop out of the top four — with two rounds of cricket to play before finals.
The Hawks, who had a bye the previous week, hosted Deniliquin and were all out for 131.
Jamie Stanyers’ 42 was the highest score for the home side, while Manraj Virdi’s 4-22 had the Rhinos celebrating.
Deniliquin made a good start to its innings with the bat, however, Barooga’s bowlers reeled them in, getting them to 9-123.
Yet, in the end the Rhinos proved too strong, knocking their way to 9-133 to run out one-wicket winners.
Barooga coach Riley Gow said his side bowled well, but failed to get enough runs.
“It was certainly disappointing, we need to win to play finals,” Gow said.
He said his side made its way back into the contest well, turning a poor start with the ball into a nine-wicket performance.
“We bowled the best we have this year,” he said.
Barooga must win at least one of its final two games and hope results go its way if it is a chance at playing finals.
Gow was confident it would be ready.
“We will prepare well and be ready to go,” he said.
“We’ll be playing every game like it’s a final.
“We will go into next week carefree, we have nothing to lose.”
In the weekend’s other A-grade game, Nathalia came away with a nail-biting one-wicket win at home to Katunga.
The visitor chose to bat first and put up a solid 7-172 with Dustan Ebborn hitting 48, Daniel Henderson 39 and Nicholas Thorp 37.
Brodie Ross picked up a handy 3-19 for Nathalia, before opening the batting with a score of 27.
Ross’ score, combined with a good hit from Archie Congues, 33, and Thomas Byrnes, 28, took the game down to the last over, with Nathalia making its way to 9-173 with five balls left.
With two rounds to go, the race for the finals is set to go down to the wire.
Cobram remains undefeated on top, while Katamatite sits in second.
Things get interesting in the next three spots with Deniliquin on 36 points in third, Nathalia on 33 in fourth and Barooga on 27 in fifth. This means it should be a cracking end to the season.
In B-grade, Cobram picked up a handy 10-wicket win over Jerilderie, while Barooga went down by eight wickets to Berrigan.
Katamatite suffered a 51-run loss to Finley and Strathmerton won by 65 runs over Tocumwal.
It was a disappointing loss for Cobram in C-grade, going down to Strathmerton by 24 runs, while Barooga also got done, with Katunga a 33-run victor.