A HEROIC 92 from middle-order batsman Troy Oxley was to no avail as Oxford were outlasted by ORC in a see-sawing Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade battle at the Sportsground on Saturday.
Oxley almost pulled off a near impossible run-chase for his side after ORC captain Mick Fardon roared back to life with a brilliant spell of bowling to decimate Oxford’s top order.
Behind Oxley’s 92, the next highest effort for Oxford was just 13 scored by number 10 Chris Novak, while 12 from opener Rowan Ross was the only other score in double figures.
The lack of support for Oxley cost Oxford badly as they were bowled out for 175 in the penultimate over, leaving them 14 runs short of ORC’s 9-189.
Earlier Fardon called correctly and elected to bat first on a slightly slower Sportsground surface thanks to a decent shower on Friday morning.
His side were in early trouble when Novak struck twice to remove Simon Lloyd (four) and Scott Inwood for a duck, leaving ORC reeling at 2-9.
Dave Sellers (14) briefly steadied with Wade Elliott (eight) but both batsmen fell in quick succession to consign Oberon to 4-32.
Bruce Webb continued his strong run of form with a near-flawless 45 but fell to a Josh Toole full-toss as the Tigers slumped to 7-112.
However, the innings was rescued by Ben Cummings who produced his best knock of the season, taking just 28 balls to club 42 and put his team back on track.
Some late hitting from Fardon (18) and Sam Debenham (31 not out) saw ORC reach a competitive 9-189.
Novak finished with 2-25 while Aaron Seymour was also impressive with 2-30 from his eight overs.
Seymour and Ross were used as a makeshift opening pair in the absence of Oxford captain Russell Gardner, and for a while their stand of 12 looked like being the biggest of the innings.
Fardon wreaked havoc with the new ball, claiming 5-7 in eight near perfect overs as Oxford fell from 0-12 to 5-26.
Crucially stand-in skipper Toole was removed for one as Oberon moved in for the kill.
Oxley was having none of it though and dug in, putting on 56 for the sixth wicket with Jamie Wicks before the latter fell to Webb’s off-spin for seven.
Webb sent Joel Bell back soon after as Oxford stumbled once more to 7-97, but Oxley managed to keep his side in the game with some enterprising running and the occasional big shot.
The turning point of the match came in the 37th over when, with his side still needing 26 to win, Oxley was run-out by Tim McKinnon after a mix-up with Novak. He had scored well over half of his team’s runs.
McKinnon ended the match two overs later when he bowled Novak, Oxford all-out for 175.
Fardon was the star though, and the fact that his eight overs went for virtually nothing meant that Oxford were chasing the run-rate virtually from the start.
“I don’t think I have ever bowled that well,” Fardon said.
“We did really well for those first 16 or 17 overs, Ox [Oxley] batted really well to get them in a position to maybe win, but we pulled them back at the end. I couldn’t have asked for anymore from anyone.”
Fardon also praised Cummings’ effort with the bat, which effectively turned the match in his team’s favour.
“I’d say that was probably the turning point. He just went out there and from the very first ball he hit, he started scoring runs everywhere and lifted the run-rate,” he said.
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