BATHURST’S undefeated under 16s will go into their Mitchell Cricket Council semi-final against Lithgow this Sunday as overwhelming favourites.
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Only a fortnight after delivering a heavy defeat to the Lithgow team Bathurst will play host at the Sportsground with an aim to repeat that result.
Bathurst will be trying not to look to far ahead towards what would be a highly anticipated grand final against Orange, but if they bring a level of cricket similar to the one from their latest game then Lithgow will need something special to break through.
Their latest meeting, also at the Sportsground, was one way traffic from the outset as Ben Cant (48) and Bailey Brien (54) put on a big opening stand to set up a 137 run win.
Hugh Parsons made the biggest individual contribution of 61.
Lithgow’s danger man for Bathurst to watch is captain and all-round threat Tanvir Singh, who has had a large share of experience in opens representative cricket this season.
Bathurst kept his damage to a minimum last match by removing him for a duck.
“We’ll be going into this game at full strength with a similar team to the last game,” Bathurst co-coach Mike Mitchell said.
“I’m looking for good scores from Ben Cant and Bailey Brien and also Sam Hall. In the last game we had a great score from Hugh Parsons as well.
“All of these guys are great in that they always play a positive brand of cricket, and they’re a very, very good fielding side as well. The biggest reason we’ve had all of our success they respect each other as players.”
Mitchell said it’s been a pleasure to see his team’s enthusiasm for the game of cricket always at a high.
“It’s alright to be confident but it’s another thing to go out there and win it,” he said.
“It’s a big season for the boys because for a lot of them this will be their last in junior cricket. For Ben Mitchell this will be his last match in the age group due to other junior cricket commitments. He won’t be available for the final, so he wants to make the most of it.
“A lot of the under 16s have also mentioned that they would like to get involved in helping to develop the younger players. I think it’s fantastic to see our players wanting to put something back into the game.”
Demonstrating Bathurst’s dominance is that all of their wins this season have been by either eight wickets or more than 100 runs.
The semi-final gets underway from 10am.
Orange plays host to Mudgee in the other under 16s semi-final.