ST PAT'S Old Boys are one win away from a maiden Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade title after batting out a draw in their preliminary final against Bathurst City.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Rain brought play to an early end on Sunday with St Pat's sitting on 8-306, allowing them to progress to the decider against City Colts courtesy of their higher finish on the ladder.
Ben Mitchell's maiden first grade ton of 112 and Connor Slattery's 85 were the standout performances for Pat's while Redbacks' Ben Orme gave it everything with the ball to finish with 4-59 off his 21 overs.
Orme's onslaught put Pat's in early trouble at 4-24 before Mitchell and Slattery's partnership of 149 rescued the Saints' innings.
David Cant (1), Bailey Brien (2) and Adam Ryan (4) all fell at the hands of Orme before Saints' opening batsman Nic Broes was caught for 15 by Campbell Baker off the bowling of Clint Moxon.
Mitchell and Slattery then spent 50 overs at the crease together to wrestle momentum away from Redbacks through their long haul of defensive batting.
Tanvir Singh (54) hit his first half century in the top grade to add to the Saints highlight reel.
"We were in dire straits there at 4-24 but Benny and Connor did well to put on 150 together. That stand set the tone for the rest of the match," Saints captain Ryan said.
"The heavy outfield really restricted the runs and didn't give you much value for shots. Benny hit two sixes and seven fours and that's probably the least amount of boundaries he's ever hit for a century.
"The attitude and discipline of our batsmen to play hard, two-day cricket was great to see. We fell on the right side of the rulebook for this game and we'll obviously have to have a different approach for the next one.
"Connor went close to batting 100 for his 85. The determination to play an innings like that is amazing."
"Thanks must to go to Bathurst City for the work they put in pumping water off the ground and getting the field in a playable condition for the game."
Keep up to date with the latest sports news by clicking here.
Baker was the only Redbacks player not thrown the ball during a long two days in the field for Bathurst City.
Redbacks captain Joey Coughlan said his side had opportunities to get through the Saints order faster than what they did.
"They gave us heaps of chances. There were edges through slips and gully but they wouldn't go to hand," he said.
"Ormey was huge in his first stint with his three wickets ... but then his groin gave out and he was on one leg for the rest of the match. It's hard to regroup when you lose your best bowler like that but Mocko did an awesome job."
One thing Coughlan believes the club should be happy about is their efforts to prepare the ground for play.
"We did a lot of work on the field on Friday. We had the covers on to beat the rain, then at 6am on Saturday morning we got the outfield good to go," he said.
"A massive thanks has to go to Nick Cook at NJC Building who gave us a lot of sawdust for nothing and Wade Beattie at Iplumb for the heater which dried the pitch up on Sunday.
"A lot of effort went into getting this game to go ahead. For it to end in a draw was really disappointing."