BATHURST City may have gone another round in the Bathurst District Cricket Association without tasting defeat, but ORC got as close as possible to toppling them on Saturday.
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So close in fact the match at the Sportsground finished in a tie at 177 runs apiece.
It came down to the final over with Redbacks needing one run to win with one wicket in hand.
Jeremy Judge’s first three deliveries for ORC were maidens and on the fourth he claimed the scalp of Redbacks’ John Rudge (39) to bring about the rare tie.
“We almost got there,” ORC skipper Trent Fitzpatrick said.
“We probably should’ve won it with about four or five overs to go, but Rudgey came out and batted well at the end there.
“Then I suppose in the last over they should’ve won it.
“I have never played in a tie myself before. At the end of the game it definitely felt more like a loss than a win – we certainly had our chances to win, but we didn’t get the result.”
Heading into the match on the back of a good win over City Colts, ORC was hopeful of being able to upset Redbacks.
Though ORC was missing brothers Dave and Wayne Sellers, Redbacks were without skipper Matt Willis and Joey Coughlan.
Fitzpatrick won the toss and elected to bat, but knew runs would be hard earned.
ORC was in trouble early as openers Fitzpatrick and Lachlan Menzies both fell for four to make it 2-13, but the Tigers managed to steady.
Judge (33) and Brad Glasson (43) were good in the middle order and Evan Jones hit 62 coming in at number seven.
“The wicket was very different to last week, they left a hell of a lot more grass on it than last week, so we knew straight up there would not be as many runs in it,” he said.
“I felt that a par total on that surface would’ve been around 160, so when we got 177 we were confident we had enough runs in the bank.
“Having said that, Ormey [Ben] Orme, Mike Waldren and Trent Hemsworth bowled really well for those guys, they bowled really tight.”
Orme claimed 4-19, Waldren 2-19 and Hemsworth 2-23 off their tight eight over spells.
In reply Redbacks had a lot of players make starts - Callum Schubert hit 22 opening the batting, Mark Day 23, Waldren 22 and Orme 17 – but they fell before being able to do any real damage.
Rudge did inch City within reach of victory with his efforts at number seven, but ORC managed to hold on for a draw.
Clint Bryant (2-44 off eight) and Warren Coggan (2-26 off six) were the most successful with the ball for ORC.