Cavaliers proved their status as Royal Hotel Cup contenders at Wade Park on Friday night, braving the cold to freeze out Bathurst City and pick up their second consecutive win of the 2018-19 tournament.
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Thanks largely to Ryan Kurtz continuing his good form with the bat and punching out another valuable half-century, the maroons – sporting brand new strips – chased down Redbacks’ 6-125 in the final over of the game, shooting to the top of pool B as a result.
Kurtz made a composed 57 before being caught off Sam McPherson’s bowling and although his dismissal was untimely with his side needing just eight more to win, Mitch Black (11 not out) and Hudson Izzard (5 not out) got the job done with five balls remaining.
The victory backed up last month’s six-wicket win over reigning champions Centennials and puts the maroons firmly in the box seat to claim one of their pool’s available semi-final spots, although they still have two preliminary games to go.
Cavaliers skipper Matt Corben won the toss and sent Bathurst City in on a Wade Park deck that played quite consistently considering the rain leading into the game.
Redbacks’ top order fired to some degree, with all of the top four contributing, although none made the most of their starts.
Ben Orme (17) and Joey Coughlan (21) added 39 for the first wicket while Mark Day (27) and Aditya Adey (24) made valuable contributions from three and four, respectively.
But after they were all sent on their way Redbacks’ batters fell consistently, no others making it to double digits as they finished 6-125 after 20 overs.
Mark Maybin (2-18) was the only multiple-wicket taker for Cavaliers, removing both Orme and Coughlan, while Black (1-26) and Josh Doherty (1-23) picked up a scalp each. There was two run outs as well, Doherty accounting for one of those.
Cavaliers were forced to fight back from an unenviable position too after their chase started badly, marquee man Wayne Sellers (0), Doherty (9) and Corben (5) all fell cheaply as the maroons slumped to 3-25.
Kurtz and Bailey Ferguson (18) steadied the ship and pushed the score to 73 before the latter was run out by Rory Daburger.
Wes Lummis (16) joined Kurtz and they added another 29 before the former fell with the score at 102.
Kurtz and Black looked likely to get their side home as they worked Cavaliers’ total to 118, before the former’s dismissal gave the visiting Bathurst side – runners up last year – a sniff.
But Black and Izzard made sure Cavaliers claimed the points, adding the eight necessary for victory.
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Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
