While a majority of teams hail from Orange District Cricket Association, it will be an all-Bathurst affair after Bathurst City defeated CYMS in the Royal Hotel Cup semi-final on Friday night.
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CYMS had four calamitous run outs in their pursuit of the Bathurst outfit’s 7-151, which proved too big of an obstacle to overcome as they were dismissed for 117 in the 18th over at Wade Park.
CYMS skipper Hamish Finlayson, Grant Koch, Michael Hannelly and Peter Gott were the quartet caught short of the crease in the green and gold’s failed chase.
And while Bathurst City’s judgement of a run was hardly faultless – they suffered three run outs themselves – Finlayson conceded the visiting batsmen’s energy between the wickets and his own side’s confusion both told a tale in terms of the game’s outcome.
“They ran really well between wickets,” he said of Bathurst City.
“They probably put on an extra 30 runs with good running, turning ones into twos and twos into threes.
“Our running between the wickets was pretty average and that put us on the back foot a little bit.”
The green and golds started their run chase well and truly on the front foot, motoring along 1-65 after five overs courtesy of some strong hitting from openers Andrew Henry (39) and Tom Belmonte (21), ably supported by first drop Koch (20)
However from that point the wheels fell off, CYMS losing 9-50 in a tick over 11 overs, taking with them the last chance of Orange District Cricket Association fielding a side in Friday’s decider.
City all-rounder Greg Adams made the most of the hosts’ lack of composure, taking the scalps of danger men Michael Delaney and Sam Dwyer on his way to figures of 3-19 off four overs.
Earlier he combined with opener Joey Coughlan (59) to salvage City’s innings, the pair adding 47 invaluable runs in the space of six overs to steer their side to what Finalyson labelled a “par score”.
City’s victory sets up an all-Bathurst decider, on March 2, with Centennials Bulls earning their passage into the final via Wednesday night’s win over defending champions Lithgow Lightning.