Throughout the opening rounds of this season, Bathurst City have struggled to field its best team in the Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
However the Redbacks will be missing just one player come Saturday – Mark Day – for its Twenty20 games against Centennials and City Colts.
Redbacks skipper Matt Willis said his teammates have confidence that they can win on any day but the biggest challenge, this season, has been having enough players to
“We’ve had weddings, bucks parties and all sorts of stuff which has made it a little bit hard to get a consistent team and basically, to get our best team.
“We’ve got a pretty strong team this weekend and hopefully we can get it done.”
It’s been a start to the season the Redbacks would not have wanted – two wins and two losses – as the defending champions aim for a third consecutive title.
We’ve got a pretty strong team this weekend and hopefully we can get it done.
- Bathurst City captain Matt Willis
The absence of Day is not expected to affected Redbacks’ chances according to Willis.
“We’ve got Mark Day missing but that’s basically it. So it’s about as good as we’ve been,” he said.
“We’ll miss Mark. He’s a big part of our team but to only have one, we’re a bit happy about that. I think the week before we had about nine out. It’s getting better.”
This season is the first time the Bathurst District Association has incorporated the Twenty20 cricket format into first grade.
On Saturday, Redbacks’ will play its first games of the season in the Twenty20 format however they have come accustomed to playing in the shorten form of the game.
Willis said it good to see Twenty20 being incorporated into first grade.
“It’s only one round. The grand final and the premiership is still won with two-day cricket which is the right thing to do. I wouldn’t like that to be changed,” he said.
“You’ve got to move with the times. Everyone is playing Twenty20 cricket. Our rep team is also been playing Twenty20. We need to be playing it on a Saturday as well.”
He said players like Trent Hemsworth and Ben Orme both benefit the best from the format.
“They basically benefit out of any format. They are boh good batsmen, they both bowl really well. It doesn’t matter what kind of cricket they play, they’re always two good players,” he said.
“As a team, I think we’ll benefit. We’ve been playing [Royal Hotel Cup] for the past couple of years in Orange.”
Redbacks play Centennials at 12.30pm at Morse Park 1 and then play City Colts on the same field at 4pm.
