AROUND this time last season, Joey Coughlan played one of the best representative innings a Bathurst batsman has produced for years when he smashed 108 against Dubbo in the SCG Cup/Western Zone Premier League.

Unfortunately for him it didn’t lead to a victory as Bathurst fell 40 runs short of Dubbo’s 268.

But the knock helped justify a Mitchell call-up, and after the way he has started this season’s representative campaign, he looks almost certain to be in those representative colours  again.

Coughlan’s unbeaten 114 two weeks ago against Orange in round two of the President’s Cup came in totally different circumstances and showed an adaptability that plenty of observers might not have realised he had.

Against Dubbo in 2013-14, he had little choice but to play aggressive cricket given the sizeable target his team were chasing.

At 2-18 against Orange and on a surface that wasn’t especially friendly for batting, Coughlan carved out a 158-run stand with Callum Hotham and ensured Bathurst got to a defendable total at 6-226.

Tomorrow he will be hoping to produce something similar against the Blue Mountains at the Sportsground in a match that will decide who hosts the Cup final.

“The deck in Orange was a lot different to the one in Dubbo, it was up-and-down and it was very hard to hit boundaries. There weren’t many boundaries hit all day, let alone just in my innings,” he said.

“It took a lot of running. Orange had some pretty good bowlers in that side, so it was satisfying to make a score like that.

“I think I’d still put the Dubbo knock just above it though, just because of the quality of bowlers they had and the depth. Tim Cox, the Mudgee boys James O’Brien and Steve Knight – they were strong.

“It is good to start the same way again, but hopefully this time it leads to some more consistency in terms of converting my starts, that has been a bit of a problem for me.”

The Blue Mountains were just as impressive as Bathurst in the first two rounds of the President’s Cup, defeating Orange by 79 runs then chasing down 221 with six wickets and four overs left against Mudgee.

Their emergence has been steady and Blue Mountains are not even at full strength at the moment with star opening duo Jimmy Heath and Chris Boothroyd unable to spearhead their bowling attack due to injury.

Coughlan knows he and his team-mates will have their hands full, though he said the absence of Matt Lawson and probable inability of Henry Shoemark to bowl due to a knee problem shouldn’t have an impact.

“Their improvement hasn’t surprised me too much, being managed by David Redden has helped them get a bit more organised and they are a really well-drilled side,” Coughlan said of his rivals.

“If they can get their two bowlers back they will be one of the strongest sides in Western Zone.

“Matt Lawson is a big loss, but Matt Stephens is a great bowler so we shouldn’t lose much there and even without Henry, we have a lot of all-rounders that can fill the gap. I don’t think it will be a concern.”

Bathurst captain Daniel Casey says he is happy to see the improvement in the Blue Mountains and agrees with Coughlan on some of the factors behind it. However, he wants it put on hold just for Sunday.

“It isn’t really a surprise that they’ve become as good as they have with David Redden involved in managing them and looking after them,” he said.

“They get to their games and warm up properly before each match, they’re there in uniform, they have added a lot of professionalism to their cricket and it has shown in their results.

“They’ve got some dangerous players, they’re good blokes based on my experience playing Mitchell with a few of them and it’s been great to see the way they’ve gotten better. I just hope they don’t get it right this weekend.”

BATHURST: Daniel Casey (c), Joey Coughlan, Adam Ryan, Callum Hotham, Ben Orme, Henry Shoemark, Matt Stephens, Jameel Qureshi, Aaron Seymour, Josh Toole, Shabbir Dhamani, Matt Fearnley.