Aditya Adey made a statement in his first game for Bathurst City by hitting 73 while Cohen Schubert was in great touch with the bat on his return to the Redbacks’ ranks with an unbeaten 62.

The pair combined for 137 runs for the fifth wicket to help their side chase down the Colts’ total of 230 with three wickets in hand.

Jaden Ekert provided the first century of the season with his big-hitting 107 – constructed of 16 fours and four sixes – but received only small helpings of support through the order.

Redbacks captain Joey Coughlan said his side reassessed themselves following their drinks break in the field and began to turn the contest in their favour.

“There were a couple of hiccups for the boys but they regained their composure,” he said.

“We started a bit poorly. Hats off the Jaden Ekert. He took on the bowlers early and it came off. We only gave him one chance but he made us pay.

“That put us behind the eight ball a bit but in the second 20 overs we had a talk about our attitude and after that our energy lifted.

“I’m very happy with Adey. He offers a fair bit with bat and ball. You could compare to Mike Waldron, who we had a couple of years ago, in that he’ll score runs and take plenty of wickets.

“Cohen’s come back to us after some time off and I was very impressed with his demeanour and how he’s going about his cricket.”

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Coughlan (49) and Ben Orme (25) got Redbacks off to a solid start in their chase but quick dismissals of Mark Day and Oli Simpson (both 0) put a scare through the squad.

The fifth wicket stand put Redbacks back on track and helped them maintain their strong record over Colts.

Dave Henderson was the pick of the Colts bowlers with 3-48. 

In the Colts innings Henry Shoemark (4) and Pat Hill (2) were caught early but first drop batsman Ekert started to deal the damage.

Henderson (33) and Matt Kelly (24) made starts but more help was needed for the Colts to post an intimidating target on the small ground.

“I’d sacrifice 100 for someone else if it meant we could have got the win,” Ekert said.

“Our basics were pretty poor. It’s something we can work on. It was a game that we should have won.

“Sometimes you’ve got to make your own luck," he said of his own innings.

“I felt like I batted well. I was pretty fatigued by the end of it but more partnerships in the middle there would have helped. 

“We probably ended up 30 to 40 runs short of what we could have got but in saying that our bowling and fielding wasn’t the best.”

Ekert had failed to reach the half century mark in his previous two seasons.

Redbacks’ Mick Tobin was a headache for the Colts middle order, leading his team’s bowling figures with 4-49.

Bathurst City made their way to 232 runs with 34 balls remaining.