The home side won the toss and elected to bat.
It was a cool spring day with the sun out, on the green and well-kept Tocumwal centre wicket.
The Rhinos opened the bowling with A-grade debutant Joice Mathew and Griegan French.
The Rhinos pair started well, containing Tocumwal’s top order.
French was able to get the first breakthrough in the sixth over, that of Cooper Harris for 10 safely caught behind by returning Rhinos keeper Jonty Tubb.
He then struck again, showing his competitiveness and skill with the ball, getting Reilly Rennick bowled for three.
Andrew Hogan then came on to bowl and was relentless, not giving the Tocumwal batters anything.
However, it was French who again struck twice either side of the first drinks break, getting Andrew Lean caught at mid-off by Rowan Frazer for four and Rod Meloury caught at mid-on by Prem Muppidi for five.
This left Tocumwal 4-40 in the 16th over.
Lachlan Holloway then came onto bowl after his match winning heroics last week and continued his good form, striking with his second ball.
He deceived Lachlan Brennan who left the ball, bowled for a duck.
Muppidi then came on and got his first wicket of the season, a ball on a good length, top edged to Holloway at gully, getting Paul Stevens out for six.
This had Tocumwal 6-60 after 25 overs.
Opener Mathew then returned to bowl, along with the introduction of Hamish Baker.
It was Baker who took the wickets, collecting three, dismissing the opening batter Tom White for 27 caught by Harry Hillier at short mid-wicket, Andy Arthur for 11 caught by Holloway and Drew Cameron for a duck caught comfortably by Boddie Arthur at cover.
After this final dismissal, Tocumwal were 9-87 after 37 overs.
Mathew was unlucky with his blistering pace and with a couple of dropped catches off his bowling, but bowled well all day, holding an end.
Anthony Bradley and Frazer came on to finish the innings, with the Rhinos conceding 29 runs in the last six overs.
Reaching 45 overs, Tocumwal had set a target of 9-116.
French was the pick of the bowlers with 4-16 off nine overs, with Baker also taking multiple wickets, finishing with 3-9 off six overs.
In the run chase, the Rhinos openers Brad Todd and French got off to a good start.
French departed, bowled by a dipping slower ball for 16 off 18 balls in the sixth over.
Harry Hillier then entered the innings keen to continue his strong batting form.
Hitting the Tocumwal bowling line-up for quality boundaries all around the ground, Todd and Hillier got the Rhinos to the target of 117 just after the 15 over drinks break.
Todd finished on 49 not out, off 48 balls.
Hillier hit the winning runs, finishing on 40 not out off 31 balls.
Both collected eight fours, and the Rhinos won convincingly by nine wickets with 28 overs to spare.
B-grade
After a winning start to the season in round one, the Deni Rhinos B-grade team had to forfeit their match against Nathalia on Saturday due to not having enough players available.
The club will be keen to get the B-grade side firing ahead of this weekend, with both A-grade and B-grade playing at home against Cobram this week.
The club’s Wheel of Fortune social event follows the matches this Saturday evening at the Deniliquin Memorial Park clubrooms.
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