Orange bring Bathurst’s T20 Cup defence to end in massive boilover

Bathurst skipper Jameel Qureshi was the first to admit his side’s 8-108 was slightly below par but even so, his troops was supremely confident after Orange’s top order crumbled early.

Nic Broes (3-8) and Matt Stephen (2-15) produced excellent opening spells to leave the home side reeling at 5-16 after just six overs but with the rock-solid Matt Corben anchoring the chase from second drop the Bluebaggers’ lower order stood up when it counted.

First they gave their side a chance and then they took it with both hands, eventually securing a three-wicket victory with six balls to spare.

Corben finished with a composed 37 not out after coming to the crease at 2-9 while Angus Cumming’s 17 and Mitch Black’s quick-fire 30 not out were equally as crucial.

Qureshi had little to say about his side’s bowling or fielding effort though, certainly nothing negative anyway, instead preferring to focus on their woes with willow in hand.

Bathurst had their own top order issues in the defeat, they slumped to 5-34 before Aditya Adey lifted his side to a competitive total with a well-made 26.

He was the only bat to pass 20 and the next highest-contributor was the sundries tally, Orange conceding 18 extras.

“It’s disappointing, it just wasn’t good enough,” Qureshi said, quickly squashing suggestions a slow pitch had an impact on the low-scoring affair.

“The wicket’s the same for both teams so that had nothing to do with it we just let ourselves down with the bat, it wasn’t good enough.

“I’ve given the boys a bit of a blast because we’re out there trying to hit sixes and no one’s going to remember that, they’ll remember what Matty Corben did because he’s won the game for Orange.

“I thought 120-odd would be about par and we didn’t quite get there but even though we were confident halfway through Orange’s chase, we just weren’t good enough with the bat.”

Kennewell, who spoke to the Western Advocate while his side was preparing to play the Blue Mountains in Sunday afternoon’s final, said even he was somewhat surprised his side had managed to scrape home.

“I’ll happily admit I thought Bathurst were favourites in that game, I think everyone did with the side they have,” he said.

“But I was still confident in the guys we had and what we could do, it was just a matter of getting it right. We were in trouble with the bat but Corbs, Blacky and the guys did a great job at the end there.

“More than anything we bowled beautifully. We knew we’d have to and we really produced with the ball.”

Kennewell was Orange’s best-performed bowler, taking 3-16, while Fletcher Rose nabbed 2-24 and Black (1-13), Zac Reimer (1-21) and Ed Morrish (1-28) all picked up scalps too.

The Blue Mountains won through to Sunday’s decider by upsetting the other pre-tournament favourite in Lithgow, the Cattle Dogs posted 6-136 at Jack Brabham 1 before rolling Lithgow for just 91.

Bathurst’s third-place play-off against Lithgow was in progress at time of publication, with nothing more than the chance to impress selectors ahead of next summer’s Plan B Regional Bash on the line.