Needing 11 from the final over of the innings for victory, Mark Fulthorpe remained cool as a cucumber, and some great pressure fielding restricted a depleted Redbacks side to 8 and in doing so, secured ORC’s second win for the season in the BDCA Presidents Cup competition.

After winning the toss and batting, it was sensible batting from openers Mark Day and Ricky Webb, who put on 134 runs for the first wicket. Webb was the first to fall, 4 runs short of his maiden grade half century, caught for 46. Similarly looking good for his first century in grade cricket, Day was gone three balls later, skying a catch and out for a well made 75.

With 10 overs remaining, and the score on 136, Grant Hines and Scott Hines managed to avoid running each other out, and set to work on pushing the runs. And push they did. A 70 run partnership came off just 6 overs, with Scotty in imposing form.

Grant was finally bowled for a well made 18, giving great support to Scott. Replaced by Braydon Breen, the runs continued to flow. After 40 overs, ORC had set their opposition a massive chase of 252, achieved for the loss of only 3 wickets.

Braydon finished with 18 not out, scored at faster than a run a ball, while Scott finished unbeaten on 73, amazingly scored off only 29 balls. His knock featured 7 sixes and 5 fours – 62 of his 73 runs in boundaries.

Only having 9 batsmen, Redbacks were likely to come out and attack. And they didn’t disappoint.

Captain Luke Bingham attacked from the off, punishing anything that was marginally wide, taking 13 off Nick Gorrell’s second over and 20 off Braydon’s fifth over. Usually among the tightest bowlers in the side, Nick finished his first 5 overs with figures of 1/32 while Braydon finished with 1/40, although he did snare a brilliant caught and bowled chance.

Some great fielding early on by Eliza Bunner also saved countless runs, including stopping two balls seemingly destined for the boundary.

Some tight bowling from Scott managed to stem the flow of runs somewhat, however by drinks, Redbacks had amassed a score of 2/142, with Bingahm looking good for a ton on 85 and getting good support from young batsman Rory Deburgher.

Needing a wicket, Scott threw the ball back to Gorrell after the drinks break, knowing it was a gamble to bowl his openers now as opposed to the end of the innings, but it was a decision that paid off handsomely, with Nick bowling the danger-man Bingham with his first delivery and finishing with the slightly better figures of 2/43 (8). Braydon also tightened the run flow, only conceding 7 runs in his final 3 overs to finish with figures of 1/47 (8).

Mark Day took his almost now customary 3 wickets, snaring 3 quick scalps before the Redbacks batsmen took to him in his final over, finishing with figures of 3/22 from 3, with yet another classic catch taken by Alex Davey.

With ORC unable to snare more wickets, the game increasingly came down to the wire. Some poor ORC fielding and good batting drew Redbacks ever closer to an unlikely victory. Eventually, ORC would get home due to some improved desperation fielding and tight bowling by Fully, but it was a great game and a fantastic effort by Redbacks who should be congratulated for playing the game in the spirit it deserves.

Next weekend sees ORC take on City Colts in a Grand Final re-match at Police Paddock.

Best and Fairest for the game:

Senior 2 – Scott Hines
Senior 1 – Alex Davey

Junior 2 – Mark Day
Junior 1 – Ricky Webb

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Missing several regulars due to unavailability and call-ups to second grade, and ultimately only fielding 10 players, ORC were always going to struggle against Old Boys. Batting first, ORC only managed to register 134, despite some promising knocks.

An early mix up saw the in-form Mark Day run out for 8. Braydon Breen and Ricky Webb both fell cheaply and when Mick Deaton was out for 22, it left Neil Webb and Eliza Bunner to steady the ship, with a 45 partnership before Eliza fell for a well made 30.

Wickets continued to fall and when Webby fell for 34, the inning soon closed.

134, while not a huge total, was also defendable. Unfortunatley, being a man down in the field left gaps that couldn’t be plugged and despite some very tidy bowling, particularly from Webby (0/14 from 6) and Eliza (0/15 from 5), Old Boys managed to pass ORC’s total without losing a wicket.

So the first loss for the season, but under the circumstances, a mighty effort from everyone, including some great fielding by Joel Harper.

Best and Fairest for the game:

Senior 2 – Neil Webb
Senior 1 – Mick Deaton

Junior 2 – Eliza Bunner
Junior 1 – Braydon Breen

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ST PAT’S Old Boys have picked up their first win of the BDCA second grade season after ending ORC’s unbeaten run with a victory at George Park 2 on Saturday.

SPOB made things hard for themselves at times chasing 132 for victory but ultimately got across the line by two wickets thanks largely to a good team bowling performance and a strong opening stand with the bat.

With ORC batting first, Chris Porter put them on the back foot early on with three wickets in his opening spell, removing Dave Sellers (18) along with Aaron Taylor and Harrison Oakley without scoring.

He would finish with 3-26 while Nathan Down also took two wickets, as ORC struggled for momentum, Ben Spence (19), Adrian Mielke (15) and Glenn Robinson (24) all getting starts but not converting.

In reply SPOB cruised to 0-51 in 11 overs before losing Shannon Dawes (37) and Chris Sewell (31) in quick succession.

James Smith (4-20) brought his tean back into the game with SPOB at 6-114 but Porter (11 not out) showed enough composure to get his team over the line.

Kyle Aubin (2-16) also finished among the wickets for ORC.

The post Seconds go down fighting with first loss of the season appeared first on ORC Cricket Club Bathurst.

ST PAT’S Old Boys have survived their first major speed hump of the 2012-13 Commonwealth Bank Cup to register a narrow but gutsy win over premiers ORC at Morse Park 1 on Saturday.

The result gives them three wins from as many matches in a dream start to the Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade competition.

The defending champions now find themselves winless after three rounds of the competition, albeit one of those rounds having been a bye, and they will lament a major missed opportunity on Saturday. The Tigers were dismissed for 105, 14 short of Pats Old Boys’ 119, and in truth they were lucky to get as close as they did after a late rally from Mick Fardon gave them an outside chance of victory.

Earlier Matt Fearnley picked up his second four-wicket haul in as many games to run through ORC’s top order and reduce them to 6-51. “It is definitely a huge confidence boost to win when defending such a small target,” Fearnley said.

“We were obviously pretty disappointed with our total and the fact we didn’t bat out our overs but we went out there knowing we had to bowl stump to stump. “ORC bowled well, we knew we had to match that to be a chance.”

SPOB captain Nathan Dennis won the toss and elected to bat on what looked like a hard and flat pitch but his side was soon in trouble at 2-22 after Tim McKinnon (2-17) removed Stuart Hodges (four) and Shane Broes (six).

Jared Rowe (21) and Adam Ryan steadied things before Rowe was bowled by Jacob Bognuda, and with Dennis coming to the crease the next period of play was set to prove critical. Dennis and Ryan looked good for a big partnership before Ryan fell for 34 and when Dennis was bowled by Bognuda for 17 a few overs later ORC were in with a chance to finish SPOB off for a modest total.

They managed to do that, claiming the final seven wickets for just 40 runs, though ultimately a 14-run stand between Matt Fearnley (five) and George Douehi (14 not out) would prove critical. Bognuda finished with 3-32 from his eight while Sam Debenham claimed 5-24 from 7.2, taking advantage of his teammates’ early work to clean up the tail.

Knowing that a good start to their chase would be able to kill the game off reasonably early, ORC weren’t able to use that to their advantage and were in early trouble at 2-11 with openers Adam Bromfield (nought) and Tim Halloran (three) back in the sheds.

In-form skipper Brendan Inwood was perhaps a little unlucky after surviving a leg-before appeal only to fall out of his crease as wicketkeeper Josh Knox threw the stumps down a few seconds after the delivery. Evan Jones (three) departed in his first match against his old team and at 4-22 the premiers were in real strife.

Wickets continued to tumble and when Myles Emanuel went for nine, SPOB were well and truly in the driver’s seat.

Wayne Sellers and Sam Debenham each made 16 and briefly got things back on track but both fell within the space of four deliveries, and whe Tim McKinnon fell to Scott Traves (3-21) first ball, the match looked over at 9-73.

Bognuda survived a huge leg-before shout early in his innings and Fardon proceeded to tee off at the other end, and when the target got to less than 20 Dennis was forced to go to a fifth bowler for the first time in the innings.

He gambled on Broes’ off-spin and though Fardon fancied his chances of some lusty blows to bring the target closer, he only succeeded in picking out Douehi on the long-off boundary and fell for 31.
Fearnley finished with 4-15 to take the bowling honours for SPOB.

“We were surprised that ORC were only on 55 or so at drinks, and they were six down at that stage and at that point we knew we were a huge chance, we just went back out there knowing we had to go for it and really put the pressure on,” Fearnley said.

“When Mick Fardon was starting to tee off there were a few nerves, we dropped him once or twice and it looked like he could get them home but we managed to get over the line.”

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Batting first, ORC posted a big total of 6 for 269, with few of the opposing bowlers escaping punishment. Adam Bromfield and Myles Emanuel started briskly, scoring at just under a run a ball for the first 8 overs, before Myles was dismissed for 14.

Ben Spence came in and hit 10 before he was caught behind. Captain Adrian Mielke joined Bromfield in the centre as they consolidated, sharing a partnership of 126 before Mielke was dismissed for 37, falling to a sharp caught and bowled.

Bromfield was the next wicket to fall, falling victim to another good caught and bowled, but not before he had plundered the bowling for a magnificent 119, including 18 boundaries.

Dave Judge replaced Bromfield, and with the intent of pushing runs, was soon dismissed for 1.

His replacement, Evan Jones started aggressively, helping Bromfield to push the runs, scoring a brisk 54, smacking 11 boundaries before he fell in the final over. Jeremy Judge gave excellent support to Jones with a well played 30 not out. ORC’s innings was wrapped up in the 40th over with the score at 6/269.

A target of 270 was always going to be a massive ask for a relatively inexperienced Bushrangers side.

Chris Hills and Jeremy Judge were immediately on the spot, bowling tightly, with both proving hard to get away. Hills only conceded 11 runs from 4 overs and Judge in particular was devastating in his 4 over spell, snaring the first 3 wickets to fall, finishing with figures of 3/16.

Angus Daymond with 2/5 (4), Dave Judge with 1/7 (2) and Evan Jones completing a good individual match with 4/11 (6) tore the Bushrangers tail to shreds, with the Bushies eventually dismissed for a total of 86 in the 26th over.

Well done to Brommy for starting the season with style – a great individual performance within a great all round team performance! Keep it up guys!

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St Pats/Old Boys Gold were always going to be something of an unknown quantity leading into the match, being an almost entirely new side in the BDCA Presidents Cup competition.

With his regular new ball partner Neil Webb only playing sporadically this season, opening bowler Nick Gorrell was forced to shoulder much of the attack, with top order batsman Harry Oakley thrown the new ball. Gorrell was straight on line, only conceding 7 runs from his first 5 overs, taking the early wicket of John Schibeci for 6.

While it took Oakley a few overs to settle into a line and length, he did snare the next wicket, with a sharp catch held by Mark Day in the slips.

The Old Boys middle order managed to consolidate, and batted well, if not slowly, with some accurate bowling from the (once again) unlucky Braydon Breen and Scott Hines, who both went wicketless despite some good accurate bowling tying down the Old Boys batting.

Eliza Bunner made the biggest breakthrough however, removing Old Boys opener Phil Cant, who was looking imposing before he fell for a well-made 47.

After Cant fell, both Nick Gorrell and Mark Day reprised their effort in the previous seasons grand final, with Gorrell snaring two more wickets to finish with 3/20 (8) and Day ripping through the lower order to snare 3/1 (3).

Old Boys eventually set ORC a target of 155, a target which could have caused issues over the past few seasons.

Ricky Webb was bowled early for 0, the victim of some good accurate bowling. However Oakley and Day proceeded to get on top of the bowling early, looking to attack as often as possible.

Harry unfortunately fell to a great catch just as he was looking to get on top of the bowling. Braydon Breen came to the crease and played some attractive shots but was dismissed for 7 by some deceptive spin bowling.

Alex Davey was promoted up the order to move things along and did just that, scoring briskly until he was dismissed for 17.

Scott Hines came to the crease with time fading and batted in the only way he knows how – hitting 5 boundaries in his 22 not out, hitting the winning runs in the process with 7 overs remaining.

However the star of the day was undoubtedly Mark Day, who batted through the innings, scoring 86 not out to go along with his 3 wickets.

The only blight on the day being a few dropped catches which will surely be addressed at fielding training over the next few weeks. However Mark Day and Mick Deaton both held fantastic catches in slips, and Ricky Webb pulled off a magnificent stumping.

Best and Fairest for the game:

Senior 2 – Nick Gorrell
Senior 1- Alex Davey

Junior 2- Mark Day
Junior 1 – Braydon Breen

The post ORC Presidents Cup start season with solid win appeared first on ORC Cricket Club Bathurst.

It was a very different ORC side which took to the field in the opening game of the new season compared to the side which bowed out in the 2011/12 final. With Ox/Cents winning the toss and electing to bat, ORC knew they needed to be sharp to ensure that the strong Ox/Cents batting line-up didn’t get on top of them.

With opening bowler Trent Fardon unavailable, Angus Daymond and President’s Cup bowler Nick Gorrell took the new ball and found that the Ox/Cents batsmen were happy to get onto the front foot.

Some unlucky bounces in the field and well placed shots helped Joel Bell and Shane Rodham push the total to 61 before Chris Hills made the first breakthrough, dismissing Rodham for 20. Kesh Pillai fell shortly after, dismissed by young quick, Kyle Aubin for 4.

Ryan Adams replaced Pillai and immediately pushed the runs, punishing the ORC bowlers as he hit 10 boundaries in his unbeaten 78.

Bell was finally dismissed by Chris Hills for a well made 61. Hills also picked up another victim to finish with match figures of 3/48 off 8 overs, while James Smith and Myles Emanuel both snared a wicket each, taking 1/40 (4) and 1/4 (2) respectively, leaving ORC a massive target of 208 runs for victory.

In reply, ORC made an aggressive start, with Myles Emanuel immediately onto the front foot. Fellow opener Tim Sexton fell for 5, and newcomer Ben Spence joined Emanuel at the crease, scoring well and pushing the total to 69 before Emanuel fell for 28.

James Smith (11) and Angus Daymond (12) were both elevated to push the runs, with Spence batting steadily, eventually reaching a very well made 50 not out shortly before stumps were pulled. Adrian Mielke was not out on 13.

In the end, with the score on 142, the umpire deemed light to be insufficient, and dangerous to the batsmen and fielders and pulled stumps, meaning ORC snatched a previously unlikely victory due to a slightly higher run rate at the same point in Ox/Cents innings.

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IT wasn’t a grand final win but Oxford Centennials have picked up some atonement for their loss last April by defeating ORC in the opening round of the Bathurst District Cricket Association Commonwealth Bank Cup.

A solid top-order performance and a four-wicket haul from leg-spinner Pawan Saini were the catalysts for the six-wicket victory, achieved in the 30th over in the 35-over match.

Things got gloomy in the later afternoon and made things difficult but former Randwick Petersham first grader Paul Toole and the ever-reliable Troy Oxley negotiated some tough conditions and guided their side home.

“Overall it was a really good team effort,” Ox-Cents captain Josh Toole said. “I thought we fielded very well and cut down what runs we could to try and make the target as small as possible and Pawan was outstanding with his four wickets.

“Troy was very good with the bat, he held down an end and rotated the strike. It was a good performance to start the season.”

Toole won the toss and elected to send his opposition in, and initially at least he may have been regretting it as the first over of the ORC innings went for 12, Mitch Botham hitting two boundaries off Aaron Seymour plus four byes.

Things settled down from there though and the rest of the Tigers innings was an exercise in good work being undone. They never lost wickets in quick succession but everytime a partnership was forming, it was nipped in the bud.

Botham fell for 11, followed by former Old Boys captain Evan Jones for one. Mike Waldren and Brendan Inwood took the score to 2-37 after nine overs before Waldren was trapped in front by Saini, and Inwood followed soon after.

He may have counted himself a bit unlucky, racing to 24 at a run a ball before smacking a long hop to Clint Bryant at short fine leg, the fielder taking a superb reflex catch to dismiss the new ORC captain.

Regular wickets continued to fall despite the efforts of Wayne Sellers who started the season in damaging fashion with four fours and two sixes in his 40. The Tigers still looked capable of something around 140 before Sellers was run-out in a mix-up with Tim McKinnon (eight not out) and eventually they had to settled for 123, dismissed in the penultimate over.

Saini finished with 4-24 from eight, while Jamie Wicks was also impressive with 2-24 from eight.

Ox-Cents made a shaky start when Blake Aubin (one) hit a full-toss from McKinnon straight to Brad Glasson in the second over and they were 2-24 after seven overs when Aaron Bell (13) became McKinnon’s second victim.

Josh Toole made an auspicious start to his captaincy tenure by smacking his first delivery to the boundary, and his 22 quickly took the momentum away from ORC.

When he fell the door was ajar at 3-66 but Paul Toole (19 not out) and Oxley (41) were good enough to get through some at-times tricky conditions and all but got their side across the line. Aaron Seymour put the finishing touches on things with 15 not out.

McKinnon was the only multiple wicket-taker for ORC with 2-31 while Mick Fardon and Jacob Bognuda (1-26 apiece) also got a scalp.

“We were below our best obviously, I don’t actually think we batted that badly but we had some brain explosions and Pawan did bowl well for them,” Inwood said.

“We didn’t have a lot of luck with the ball, we felt that if we could get through their top six we could really give ourselves a chance but Troy Oxley and Paul Toole have a lot of experience and
kept us out.

“I think we’ll improve from that, we have at least two or three guys to come into that side.”

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After comprehensively beating their Grand Final opponents City Colts two weeks earlier, the question was whether or not a young ORC side could follow up with an equally impressive performance. Unfortunately for ORC, the defending premiers, lead by man-of-the-match Matt Pender, had just too much experience when it came to big games and eventually ran out comfortable winners by 60 runs.

ORC skipper Neil Webb must feel cursed, losing yet another coin toss and ORC found themselves bowling first on a very flat and hard deck. Wickets proved just as hard to come by for ORC early on as runs runs did for City Colts.

Opening bowlers Nick Gorrell and Mick Dale bowled accurately and without luck, with Gorrell particularly miserly. Eventually, with the last ball of his spell, Dale sent the bails flying.

From there, it was methodical batting from Colts, with only Matt Pender able to find the boundary as Scott Hines, Dave Glasson, Neil Webb and a very unlucky Braydon Breen all bowled well. Pender rode his luck, being dropped twice in the space of two Braydon Breen deliveries before he reached his half century.

Pender chanced his arm once too often though and was dismissed shortly after passing 50. From there, it all went south for Colts. The reintroduction of Gorrell saw wickets falling regularly, as he claimed three wickets in a 6 over spell. Young leg spinner Mark Day tore through the Colts tail to claim 3 wickets late in the day.

With half an hour left in the day, ORC knew they had to get through a tricky period without losing any wickets. Unfortunately, a combination of good bowling and poor batting saw ORC stumble to be 2-10 at the end of day 1.

Day 2 was no easier, as wickets continued to fall. Dave Glasson played a lone hand and found support hard to come by, eventually falling for a patient and well earned 43. ORC’s more experienced batsmen weren’t able to hit out and by the time Nick Gorrell was last man out, it was all over – ORC all out for 90.

With only the slightest chance of winning outright, ORC sent Colts back in, only for rain to arrive and end the days, and ultimately the seasons, play.

Colts were worthy champions, having lead the season from day 1, however the young ORC side can hold their heads up as they made Colts earn every run and every wicket. Next season will hopefully see several of ORC’s youngsters continue to build on what was a very good season.

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ORC just beat the weather to take a slender eight-run win over Oxford Centennials in the grand final of the 2011-12 Commonwealth Bank Cup at the Sportsground yesterday.

Brendan Inwood was the hero for ORC as he belted an unbeaten 76 to help his team post a total of 128, not ordinarily a match winning score in a match involving two of the competitions batting heavy weights. However, on a rain affected pitch, it proved to be just that, as the defending premiers fell 8 runs short in another tightly contested affair.

ORC captain Mick Fardon was delighted and had no doubt that Inwood’s contribution was the biggest reason that his team were able to lift the trophy for the second time in three years.

“Brendan yesterday was incredible. As well as everyone bowled today, he pretty much won us the game yesterday. On that deck, that’s the best innings I think I’ve ever seen,” he said.

“I was a bit worried. At 7-40 you aren’t going to be comfortable, regardless of how the pitch is playing.

The Sportsground wicket proved to be a tricky one, with both teams arriving on Saturday morning to find it quite wet, considering that only a few millimetres of rain had fallen on Wednesday. As a result, Ox-Cents sent ORC in to bat after winning the toss and it paid dividends early.

Tim Halloran was bowled in the fifth over for one and six others fell as the score reached 40. It was looking desperate but Inwood stepped up and kept the score ticking over. In the end, he ran out of partners with his side bowled out for 128 in the 60th over.

Aaron Seymour was the chief destroyer for Ox/Cents, finishing with the impressive figures of 5-32 from 20 overs, while Josh Toole and Mick Simmons also took doubles.

ORC were bowled out late on Saturday but, crucially, took a wicket of their own late on, getting Blake Aubin just before before stumps, something that Fardon believes gave them a psychological edge heading into yesterday.

Ox-Cents resumed at 1-6 on Sunday and captain Russell Gardner (26) and Josh Toole (21) looked like they might have been going to put together a match-winning partnership but Cummings had Toole caught and, soon after, he also claimed Gardner.

The defending premiers tried to hold on and Aaron Bell made 20 to keep his team in it but he was the last wicket to fall, the fourth victim of Cummings, who finished with 4-25 off 13. Fardon took 3-29 off 18 and Tim McKinnon 3-22 off nine.

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