BATHURST’S first grade cricket scene was set to add its seventh venue today when Brooke Moore Oval hosted the second round clash between Rugby Union and City Colts.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
For Rugby, it would have been the culmination of five years of work in which the Bulldogs club turned the disused baseball precinct into a training and playing facility.
Unfortunately, it will have to wait for a few weeks.
A problem with the roller after a week in which heavy rain fell on the pitch meant the club was unable to get the pitch ready in time and Rugby Union will instead play at Morse Park 1.
Rugby captain Andrew Mitton is hoping to see his side build on an impressive round one victory over ORC when they face an understrength Colts outfit who had the bye in the first round.
“It’s not a bad thing for us that they’re missing a few players; any help we can get is fantastic,” Mitton said.
“There’s still some things we can do better out of the game last week. We got ourselves into a bit of trouble with the bat a couple of times, but worked our way out of it.
“We’re going to try and keep mixing things up in the batting order and try to make sure that we don’t have players batting together that might slow down the scoring. We have to find a good balance.”
Rugby will be without Tom Galvin and Mitch Curle for the clash.
It is Colts’ first chance to get a feel for what they will be up against this year and, unfortunately for them, they will do it without a host of key players.
Skipper Daniel Casey will be in Orange leading the district side in the Presidents Cup. He is joined in that side by Matt Lawson, Callum Hotham and Henry Shoemark.
Casey and Shoemark are their two most destructive batsmen and Hotham one of their most dependable, while Lawson has been among the most incisive opening bowlers in the competition over the past two years.
On top of those absences, they do not have the services of new recruits Josh Mallichan or Chris Berry.
Thankfully for stand-in captain Jeff Clancy, they have enough depth to ensure they are not merely filling gaps with untried rookies.
The likes of Jayden Ekert, a first grade centurion, Shane Conroy, Dom Giuliano and Simon Little – also a century-maker in the top grade – bring considerable top-grade experience.
Even Jared Portegies, who has played most of his cricket in thirds over the past few seasons, has played plenty of district games with the under 21s side and should have little trouble making the step up.
“Hopefully I can get a win while Case is away and then give the job back to him with a perfect record,” Clancy said.
“We are missing a lot of good players, quite obviously, and Rugby are in good form judging by what they did last week, but it only takes a couple of batsmen to fire – and we do have the guys there that are capable of doing it.
“He hasn’t played much first grade in the last couple of seasons, but Jayden is as explosive as anyone when his eye is in. If he or Paul [Clancy] get going we can do some damage still.
“I think what will be important is how guys like Paul and Matt Stephens in particular go with the ball. If we could make some early inroads into their top-order it would make a big difference.”