Too often this season, the St Pat’s Old Boys have struggled to find any success in the Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade.
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But not only did they claim their maiden victory on Saturday, they did it in style.
Saints executed their game plain to perfection, cruising to a 108 run victory over ORC.
For too long this season, Saints have struggled to put their training in use on game day.
Pat’s captain Brendon Cutmore was ecstatic with how the game panned out.
“It’s been well documented that we’ve struggle,” he said.
“But our training finally clicked, as we batted for all 40 overs and we bowled very well.”
Saints batted first and scored 9-231 off 40 overs, before ORC was sent out to bat.
ORC struggled with the bat, managing only 123 off 31 overs at Morse Park 1.
ORC had come off a tie last week, with then ladder-leaders Bathurst City.
“We took the game away from them,” Cutmore said.
“It’s the first time we’ve fielded our strongest team.
“What I’ve seen in training is that we have the skills and it was about finding the balance.
“We had that on the day.”
“Our juniors really shone on the day and we were consistently bowling in good areas.
“The bowlers played to our plan and I couldn’t ask for anything more from them.”
Even though the scoreboard looked comfortable, it did not reflect the true nature of the game, according to the Saints captain.
“It was a really good fight from ORC and the Sellers brothers tried their best to dig their team out of it,” he said.
“Even though it looked easy, they made us work for the win and it made for a better game of cricket.”
The last time Saints managed a win was on October 17, 2015, when they defeated the Centennial Bulls by 32 runs.
It has been a frustrating 413 days between wins for Saints, who have had the most to prove in this season’s competition.
But the hard work in training has finally paid-off.
Nick Broes topped score with the bat, with 43 not out.
Derryn Clayton (40), Cutmore (39) and Shane Broes (35) were the next best run scorers.
Connor Slattery topped scored with the ball, taking 3-20 off six, while Alessandro Poynton (2-18 off four) and Adam Ryan (2-15 off four) also featured well with the ball.
ORC captain Trent Fitzpatrick said it was not a good result on Saturday.
“We need to our bowling right and batting was poor,” Fitzpatrick said.
“Pats dug in and batted well.”
When Saints take on City Colts at Loco Oval on December 10, the club will be looking for its first back-to-back wins since 2013.