ST Pat’s Old Boys have plenty of work to do if they’re to hunt down Centennials Bulls’ intimidating target of 320 when their Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade fixture at Morse Park 1 resumes on Saturday.
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Pat’s are already in a precarious position at 2-22, chasing a lofty total that came about thanks to big individual performances from Troy Kenny (105) and Aaron Seymour (87).
While he may have preferred to find some runs earlier on in the season Kenny was thrilled to come up with a strong knock at a crucial point of the year.
“It was nice to finally get some runs together. The same thing actually happened a few years ago when I started quietly then got a few runs towards the end of the season,” he said.
“Pat’s have got a lot of good young players mixed in with a few experienced, older players and they made it tough work out there.
“It was a good wicket to bat on and it was very satisfying to get the century against them.
“Billy [Seymour] batted really well last week. We’re in a good position.”
Faizan Thaver (4) and Connor Slattery (7) will want to do plenty of work for the Saints before the middle order is required to chip in.
The two early scalps for the Bulls on the batting-friendly deck has given them the upper hand.
The match is a must-win for Centennials who currently sit 13 points outside of the top four with only one more game to follow.
“It’s not completely out of the equation for us. We’ve obviously got to win this one and then there’s a big game to come against ORC. Hopefully we can keep the good form going into Saturday and then the next game,” Kenny said.
“There hasn’t been much rain over the week and I don’t know if they’ll be changing decks so it will be good to bat on.
“We got Broesy [Nic Broes] out early but they’ve still got some dangerous players still to come. Connor Slattery is out there now and you’ve got Adam Ryan still to come. There’s work for us to do.”
The match is playing out in a completely different manner to the earlier meeting between the two clubs this season.
Pat’s were three wicket winners in a low scoring affair, chasing down the total of 114.
Runs were hard to come by in their one-day meeting at the Sportsground but the opportunities to score were evident at Morse Park last Saturday.
Kenny hardly put a foot wrong to make the most of the situation.
Seymour (1-3) and Jem Nash (1-9) are the wicket takers for Bulls after the Saints’ opening 14 overs.