IF Bathurst City goes on to win its Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade two-dayer against ORC, Redbacks skipper Matt Willis will most certainly be thanking his tailenders.
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It was a rearguard action at the Sportsground on Saturday that saw City go from a position of peril to now being on top headed into the second day of play.
Thanks to a good spell from Clint Bryant, who took three wickets in the space of four overs, ORC had Redbacks at 7-97.
But City’s tail wagged to get them to 185, the defending premiers then reducing ORC to 5-28 in the 14 overs they bowled before stumps.
“In the middle order we batted rubbish, Trent [Hemsworth] and I played bad shots, but luckily for us, Ollie Simpson was fantastic at the end there. He hit 39 not out, it was just unfortunate he ran out of partners,” Willis said.
“The tail were fantastic for us and to be fair, they did it all by themselves. We were sitting off and watching and our body language was down, we weren’t even clapping their runs.
“We were sitting there thinking that we had missed an opportunity, but they really turned it around.
“The runs they scored were important, but so was the time. There was only 45 minutes for them [ORC] to bat at the end, and that’s a tricky time to bat. But it’s a great time to bowl, you can bowl extra aggressive.”
ORC won the toss and elected to bowl first on what looked a tricky deck for batting, water having seeped under the covers on Friday as 24 millimetres of rain fell.
Charlie Coggan claimed Joey Coughlan (14) early, but City then steadied as Cohen Schubert (16) joined Greg Adams (34) at the crease.
Bowling changes then swung momentum back in ORC’s favour as Trent Fardon (4-34 off 18.5 overs) and Bryant (4-34 off 12) found success when introduced into the attack.
Bryant did most of the damage as ORC tore through City’s middle order, claiming a scalp with his second delivery while his third and fourth overs were both wicket maidens.
City, who had been 1-65, found themselves at 7-97 and when Ben Orme – the last of the recognised batsmen – departed, it was 8-112.
Fortunately for City, Simpson, Clint Moxon (21) and Jaidyn Hutchings (10) got the total to 185.
ORC then went in to bat before stumps, but City’s aggressive approach in the field saw openers Dave Sellers (duck) and Trent Fitzpatrick (five) fall cheaply.
Nightwatchmen Fardon (10) and Tim McKinnon (four) did not last long and when Jeremy Judge (one) departed, ORC was 5-28.
Mike Waldren (2-15) and Hemsworth (2-13) did the damage.
