ORC’s Presidents Cup side have (belatedly) started their season with a win first up, after the previous rounds games were washed out.

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