BATHURST junior talent Nic Broes has saved the day for Bathurst High, in his school’s third round match in Alan Davidson Shield Western Zone knockout on Wednesday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
And the win for Bathurst was even sweeter considering it was against its Denison College rival Kelso High.
While they weren’t all dismissed, Kelso struggled to score significant runs throughout their 40 overs, finishing with a total of 9-116, before Bathurst responded by passing Kelso’s total after 22 overs, but losing seven wickets in the process.
Broes’ performance for Bathurst was similar to his effort in the previous round against Orange High School according to coach Paul Abbott.
“To be honest, it was a very similar story to when played Orange earlier on in the competition. We got off to an ordinary start and Nic bailed us out of trouble again,” he said.
“I actually moved him down the order because he had a bit of a stiff back. It might’ve probably been because of all the cricket he’s been playing.
“He was impressive from the first ball. He hit the pretty well.”
Opener Tom Rodham was the highest scoring batsman for Kelso, finishing with a total of 32.
“Their opening batsman, Rodham, he was looking quite dangerous,” Abbott said.
“When we were up to our third bowling change, Charlie Hutchings was able to come in and bowl Rodham out with his first ball. That was a very important wicket, when you look back at it.”
Things weren’t looking great for Bathurst when they were down 3-16 off just seven overs, with opening batsman Max Currie dismissed for two, number three Mitch Taylor gone for a duck and Nash Hutchings gone for two.
- READ MORE: Kelso roll Albury in Alan Davidson Shield
So up stepped Broes, coming in as the number five batsman.
He smashed 84 not out, to help deliver Bathurst a fourth round birth.
And while Charlie Hutchings only scored two runs, coming in as the nine batsman, Abbott said he played smart cricket with the bat.
“Charlie Hutchings played a smart role towards the end of match, where we had lost some wickets,” he said.
“Charlie had the smarts to protect his wicket and look for opportunities to get Nic back on strike.”
Abbott said his side will be looking to improve their bowling before their next match.
“We’ll be looking to improve the length of our bowling,” he said.
“We probably got away with bowling to short on Wednesday, for a majority of the match.”
Bathurst will now take on either the winner of Cowra High or Blayney High School, at an unconfirmed location in November.
Please sign up to our free morning headlines email to read more Bathurst news:
