An inspirational performance from Bathurst City’s first three batsmen has delivered a big win over ladder leaders St Pat’s Old Boys, as Redbacks claimed a first innings win with eight wickets to spare in Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade.
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Opening batsmen John Rudge scored 45 runs, alongside Joey Coughlan who scored a century (104 runs), his first since March 2014 which was also against Saints.
Mark Day, coming in at number three, scored 83 runs before being caught out by an Adam Ryan ball.
With temperatures pushing 35 degrees, first-placed Saints were left to field the entire second day and sweltered as third-placed Redbacks eventually declared at 9-377.
By the time the third Redback wicket fell, Redbacks had already eclipsed the Saints total of 267 by 12 runs.
Willis was all praise for the Redbacks batting order, who also welcomed back himself, Mark Day and Ben Orme.
“Joey batted terrific. He played two bad shots all day and got out off one of them. In the heat of the day, it was really inspiring for us,” he said.
“He had a bit of tummy bug but he kept going. Him, Rudgey and Mark Day played great.”
While the heat was tough to play in, Willis thought Saints felt the sting of hot weather more.
“It was good for me because I was sitting in the shade for most of it. Pats looked like they struggled,” he said.
“It was as good as those three [Rudge, Coughlan and Day] have done for us.
“Our top five did 90 per cent of the work.
“They set out a bit of a foundation for us and we were amazed we got pass [their total] with two wickets down.
“We even chased them down with 10 men.”
Adam Ryan had the best figures with the ball, taking 4-29 off 7.3 overs.
Redbacks’ Jacob Pepper was run out, while the other wickets went to Bailey Brien, with two, and Fearnley and Ben Parsons taking one each.
Willis commented on the effort by the Saints boys.
“They are a really good, young team. If they stay in town and not go to uni or get jobs, they will be a really strong team,” he said.
“From what I saw, Adam Ryan and Matt Fearnley were the only ones out there that didn’t look over 20.”
While the first innings win was achieved on Saturday, there was just as much work done the previous Saturday.
With a host of players missing, bowler Trent Hemsworth stood up to take seven wickets in one innings.
“Honestly, we did as much as possible to win,” Willis said.
“We had six players unavailable then and with Hemsy to do what he did, it was a great performance.
“It worked out good with our returning players this week being three, four and five.”
Next up for Redbacks is Centennials, on January 27, at the Bathurst Sportsground.
Saints will take on ORC at the Scots School.
