It was the Nic Broes show on the first day of play between St Pat’s Old Boys and City Colts in Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade, but come the second day on Saturday, it was the bowlers turn to take centre stage.
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St Pat’s started play on 6-329 and were all out for 366, the big total helped by Broes’ club-record knock of 186 the previous Saturday.
Colts couldn’t even manage half of their opponents’ score, dismissed for 136 at Loco Oval, with the wickets shared between five bowlers: Tanvir Singh (1-14 off six), Mitch Taylor (2-34 off seven), Matt Fearnley (1-18 off eight), Nic Broes (2-39 off 14) and Ethan Ivory (3-26 off eight).
The massive 230-run win now propels St Pat’s into top spot on the first grade ladder, with just two rounds to go before finals.
St Pat’s skipper Adam Ryan said he was proud of his team performance.
“Our opening bowlers (Singh and Taylor) built some really good pressure with the ball and we capitalised in the field to bowl them out,” he said.
“I was very proud of my team’s performance. It’s good to see the hard work paying off and it’s great to build momentum going into the back end of the season.”
When St Pat’s resumed play on Saturday, Brendon Cutmore and Josh Wilcox started, the former resuming on 61 and was eventually dismissed for 78.
Wilcox fell for 11, while Mitch Taylor came in and was dismissed for a duck.
Ethan Ivory whacked four consecutive fours, hit one single and then was bowled out by Matt Stephen for 17 runs.
George Douichi hit three, while Matt Fearnley, coming in as number 11, was the last batsman dismissed, gone for a duck.
Colts had a mountain to climb if they wanted to avoid a first innings defeat and things were not looking good when they were at 3-36 after the dismissals of Henry Shoemark (10), Pat Hill (10) and Wayne Sellers (a duck).
Jaden Ekert gave Colts hope, with his knock of 51, but it was the highest score the team managed, all out for 136 runs after 42 runs.
With just over an hour left, Ryan opted for his team to bat again.
His side’s performance with the bat was vastly different than the first innings, the team intent on hitting as many runs as possible but they finished with 6-82 after 15 overs.
“We had an hour and ten minutes left, so we decided to have a hit for some bonus points,” Ryan explained.
“We only managed the 80-odd and lost a fair few wickets, which wasn’t what we wanted.
“In hindsight, we should’ve bowled again.
“Credit needs to go to Colts for doing a great job and their dedication to have the wicket playable last week, when no else got on.”
The win for St Pat’s now puts them in a strong position to finish in the top three, with the Old Boys to sit out the next round with a bye.
Colts take on competition strugglers in Centennials Bulls in round 14 action on February 23.