TWENTY-NINE runs, two wickets, two catches, guided his team to a close victory.
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Those statistics were man of the match worthy and that is exactly what Bathurst under 14s representative Jacob Lamb delivered against Mudgee in Sunday’s Mitchell Cricket Council clash.
Lamb produced memorable performance with the bat, ball and in the field to help Bathurst to an extremely close one-wicket victory against Mudgee, plus earning high praise from coach Craig Windus.
“Jacob is a solid little cricketer. He is normally quite aggressive, but in this game showed his patience and maturity getting us over the line,” Windus said.
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Lamb hit the winning runs after being at the crease for over 90 minutes, but earlier in the chase it was Mudgee which held the upper hand.
Bathurst was set a target of 118 runs after a strong first innings by Mudgee, highlighted with Cooper Martin scoring 23 runs and Jordyn Richards 28 runs.
Jacob Lamb and Cooper Grenfell both snagged a couple of wickets for Bathurst with figures of 2-4 off 1.2 overs and 2-15 off five overs respectively in what was a very scrappy bowling performance.
Chasing that handy total, Bathurst looked in trouble early on with the first four wickets falling for only 17 runs.
All the Mudgee bowlers took their fair share of victims, highlighted by a three-wicket hall for Oliver Hollow.
After wicket number six fell Bathurst had just 45 runs, and at that point it seemed unlikely that the visitors would even get close to the required total.
However, on the back of a superb performance on the field, Lamb kept battling on.
Even though his batting partners kept on falling around him, he helped whittle away at the total. It came down to Bathurst needing 11 runs but with just two wickets in hand.
The eighth Bathurst wicket fell with the total on 109 runs, which added to the tension. But Lamb and Seth Norris survived and reached the target in the 31st over.
“It was very tense towards the end. The boys were very happy with the win after having their butts clenched for the last five or six overs,” Windus said.
“We were a bit ill-disciplined with bowling which let Mudgee into the game, and our top-order didn’t show the potential they should of with a couple of loose shots early on. But it was good to see the boys step up when the pressure was on.”
Extras played a huge part in both innings, with Bathurst contributing 36 runs to the Mudgee total with wides and no-balls, while in turn Mudgee gifted 49 runs to the visitors.
“It was quite windy which made bowling difficult, plus there was a decent amount of swing contributing to the many wides in the match,” Windus said.
“It was one of those games that neither team should have won given that almost half of the runs scored were extras. We were in trouble, but Mudgee handed us the game.”
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After the third round of the 2018/2019 season of the Mitchell Cricket Council under 14s competition, Bathurst is undefeated with three wins to be sitting at the top of the ladder on 30 points.
It is followed by Orange on 13 points.
Bathurst has a bye for round four, meaning that there is some extra time for the side to reflect on a classic win for the team.
