ONLY one of either City Colts or Rugby Union will remain undefeated after round three of the Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade competition as the two sides meet at Loco Oval on Saturday.
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Both teams come into the match down on some of their most experienced personnel, due to the weekend’s Western Zone representative games, which will test each club’s depth early on in the season.
Adding to the difficulty factor will be the lack of cricket for a fortnight for the majority of players.
Each side claimed encouraging wins in the opening round of the season.
Colts comfortably caught the total set by ORC while Rugby Union produced a well-timed run chase against Centennials Bulls.
Now the challenge will be to repeat those performances with different lineups.
Rugby Union captain Sam Macpherson believes the encounter at Loco still promises to be a high-quality affair.
“It will be a very good game. With the Mitchell games on the weekend we’ll have two players from each side unavailable,” he said.
“We’re hoping though that our depth from second grade will be there to help us.
“We always seem to have good games against Colts.”
Macpherson’s Bulldogs will be missing the services of Mitchell captain Jameel Qureshi and Ryan Peacock, both of who produced superb performances for Bathurst in the NSW Country Cup last weekend.
Rugby Union are also without Nathan Swards, who carries a hamstring injury, and Mitch Curle is absent.
“I still think we can put together a really strong game. It will be a good chance to see where we’re at,” Macpherson said.
“We always seem to be able to bring up some strong players from second grade. Jeremy Thackery will play firsts this weekend and he’s often able to produce a good score.
“Colts will still have guys like Dan Casey and Tony Clancy there so we’ve go to be at our best. I had a look at the ground the other week and it looked like a good pitch, and the outfield looked good too.
Colts will also be requiring their players to step it up thanks to both Henry Shoemark and Matt Stephen out on representative duty.
In the rain-affected season gone Colts and Bulldogs met only the one time, with the former side coming away with the win.
The top scorers from that match for Colts? Shoemark and Stephen.
However, a lot changes in the course of a season and Rugby Union will be hoping the result will be one of those things.
Saturday’s match at Loco Oval starts from 1pm.