An Adam Ryan century was not enough for St Pat’s Old Boys on Saturday, as Centennials held on for a long overdue victory in Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade.
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After winning its opening two games, Bulls went 10 rounds (six losses, four wash-outs) without a win before defeating Saints by 33 runs, Bulls’ first victory in 112 days.
Saints resumed played on Saturday afternoon at 2-22, chasing Bulls’ total of 319.
Nic Broes, with nine runs, and David Cant, with two runs, were already caught out on day one and Faizan Ali and Connor Slattery started the day in.
Slattery fell at 24 and Ali score his highest score of the season – 45 runs – but it was the number five batsman Ryan that did the damage as he scored 135.
However, Ryan was eventually bowled out by Chris Redding, who was Bulls’ main man with ball taking 5-89 off 25 overs that featured eight maidens.
Bulls skipped Andrew Brown said it was a massive performance from his team considering the tough batter-friendly deck.
“It was tough. There was a few things that didn’t go our way, with a lot of balls falling in the gaps and that,” he said.
“Apart from that, we bowled pretty well throughout the day.
“The bowling was good. Everyone chipped in.
“We were missing Aaron Seymour, one of our key bowlers. But Redding bowled really well for us. He had five for.”
Centennials have enjoyed a long run in the semi-finals but its spell is in danger as they sit in fifth place.
However, the team is not out of semi-final contention yet.
While Saturday’s game keeps them in fifth, they are right behind fourth place with one round of play remaining.
“We were talking about it on Saturday night and there’s a chance,” he said.
“All the other top four teams play each other and we play ORC. If results do go our way, we could still get in.”
All round it’s been a solid week for the Centennials Cricket Club, after winning two Royal Hotel Cup games last week.
Bulls have now booked themselves a semi-final place after finishing third and will play the undefeated Lithgow Lightning side on Wednesday evening.
“We had [Royal Hotel Cup] on Wednesday and Friday and we had two wins there, so it’s been a pretty good week for our team and our club,” Brown said.
“It should be a cracker of a game. Whoever wins that should probably win the final, to be honest. A lot of the other teams have said that.”
Brown said his team should either be full strength or close to full strength for the match played at Orange’s Wade Park.
Play starts at 6.30pm, before Bulls are back to action in first grade on February 24 against ORC.