A JOSH Toole century has handed Oxford Centennials an important win going into the two-week Christmas break in the Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade competition.

Chasing 174 for first innings points against St Pat’s Old Boys, Toole and Blake Aubin resumed their team’s innings at 5-70 and with the game still in the balance at Morse Park 1.

A stroke-filled 136 from the captain made sure that there were no wobbles and they cruised to a big first innings lead of 120.

“I had a fair bit of luck, I gave a lot of chances and if one of those goes to hand it could have turned out a bit differently,” Toole said.

“Some of them were pretty hard, I smacked a few that would have been good catches if they stuck.

“It was really important for us to get a win this week going into the break, Pat’s Old Boys have battled a bit and we couldn’t afford to drop a game against one of the teams below us.”

The chances of Pat’s producing an upset hinged on whether they could split Aubin and Toole early and make sure that all-rounder Aaron Seymour didn’t have much impact as he was due to come in next.

Unfortunately for Adam Ryan’s side, all three played their part.

Aubin was dismissed for 23 with the score on 100, but Seymour joined the fray and with his captain, proceeded to help his side towards victory.

The pair combined for a game-defining 102-run stand before Seymour was removed for 23 by Pat’s captain Adam Ryan.

With first innings points in their keeping, the Toole show continued as he smoked 20 fours and two sixes in his knock.

As the result was secure, tail-end pair Jamie Wicks (23 not out) and Ricky Daymond (29 not out) got in on the act and made some handy runs late in the innings.

Matt Fearnley was another centurion on the day, not in the way he’d have preferred as he went for 101 runs, but he did an admirable job in picking up four wickets in the process and toiling through 27 overs. Ryan was also impressive as he claimed 3-68 off 18.

Batting a second time, Pat’s had a few hours to try and ensure that they didn’t concede an outright result, and they managed to do it as they reached 5-142 at stumps, led by 57 from Scott Traves.

Ryan made another good contribution with 40.

Seymour and Daymond picked up a couple of wickets each. Pat’s now go into the new year with just the one win though their young side continues to get more and more experience under their belt in the top grade.

For Toole, the win makes sure that his side are in a good position to climb the ladder after Christmas if they can string more wins together.

“We’re going along okay, we’re getting contributions out of most of the guys and as long as we’re winning it doesn’t really worry me how we do it,” he said.

“Maybe if Pat’s had have taken their chances it could have been a different story but cricket is all about making the most of your opportunities and we did that so I can’t complain.”