Broes and his Bathurst team-mates were cruising at 6-241 in the 2017-18 final against Orange with eight overs still to come when rain brought a halt to play.

It meant the winner of the series was determined on prior results.

Orange and Bathurst had not played either other prior due to an unprepared pitch, so it rested on which outfit had beaten Mudgee more convincingly. It was Orange.

“We ended up losing because we didn’t qualify first. We still had overs to play in that final, we were close to 250 and [Ryan] Peacock was batting as well as I’d ever seen him bat,” Broes recalled.

“I guess that happens, but it would be nice to go on and win it this year.”

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This season Bathurst began its campaign with a 105-run win over Mudgee, Bailey Brien the star as he hit an unbeaten 121.

The next hurdle is beating Blue Mountains-Lithgow this Sunday.

With Blue Mountains-Lithgow having forfeited its opener to Orange and the game to be played on a new Peter Carroll Field deck, there are some uncertainties for Broes and his Bathurst team-mates.

“It should be interesting, I’m not really familiar with a lot of the junior kids playing in the Blue Mountains area. We are playing on a brand new deck too, they haven’t played a game on it yet,” he said.

However, Broes takes confidence from the talent within the Bathurst playing group. He knows that their depth makes them a formidable opponent.

“Everyone knows what everyone else does, how they play. We bat pretty deep too,” he said.

“We know if we’re ever in a bit of trouble we know we bat all the way down. People don’t have to put as much pressure on themselves because it’s like ‘Look if I don’t score runs today it’s okay because there are other blokes who are just as skilful and just as talented’.”

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But it is not just Bathurst’s batting line-up which is a big threat to Mitchell Cricket Council rivals. As Broes explained there is plenty of variety and talent the bowling attack too.

“There’s a lot of different combinations. There’s a couple of left-arm bowlers which is always handy, left-arm spinners, right-arm spinners, right-arm pace bowlers,” he said.

“We were sort of thinking it would be interesting if we could take this team out to a trial match in Sydney just to see how we really could go and how good this side is.

“We definitely want to win this one. It is never nice to lose a game, but against our rivals from around the area, you always like beating them.”