Dave Boundy made an emphatic start to the Bathurst-Orange Inter-District Cricket competition at Wade Park on Saturday afternoon, hammering a memorable ton to lead Orange City to a formidable position at stumps on day one against Centrals.
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The former Western Zone all-rounder smashed the red and blacks' attack to all corners of the ground, gave just one chance and nailed 21 boundaries on his way to 132, his dig inspiring the Warriors to a whopping overnight total of 4-351.
The round one ton is the highest score of his career - here and abroad - and the 2012-13 premiership-winning skipper said that makes the dig a touch more special, as does the fact he wasn't planning on playing first grade at all this summer.
There's no nerves through [the 90s], I was just happy to get that many and I was buggered so I wasn't thinking about too much.
- Orange City's Dave Boundy
"I wasn't going to play first grade, no, but I think the BOIDC competition coming back got me a little bit energised again. I'm back for the moment I think," Boundy laughed.
"It was alright, a bit of fun, it was hard and flat out there so it was tough work for the bowlers. Because of that it was as much about trying not to throw my wicket away as anything and I got to 50 okay, but it took bloody forever to get from there to 100.
"Once I got the early 90s I was okay though, I count so I knew where I was. There's no nerves through there though, I was just happy to get that many and I was buggered so I wasn't thinking about too much."
Saturday's ton is Boundy's first since he banged out 101 against Kinross in 2015-16 and continues his trend of piling on runs against Centrals, a handful of his highest scores have come against the red and blacks, including a hard-hitting 92 in the Royal Hotel Cup last summer.
Boundy went on to say one the highlights from his dig was getting the chance to bat for a long time with a couple of the Warriors' younger brigade, he added 118 for the second wicket with Lachie Coyte (67) and another 51 for the third with recruit Ben Schofield (42 not out).
"That was good, batting with those two. Young Benny looked pretty good in his first game, he was just ticking away reasonably conservatively so once I got to 100 I thought we better push the run rate along a bit," Boundy said.
"We were on [233] when I got out so even though we'd not lost many wickets we probably weren't setting the world on fire, but Benny and Shaun Grenfell (49) did well to get us up to 350.
"I'm not sure if we'll bat on or not, we'll just have to see how that plays out."
Bathurst City skipper Joey Coughlan rocketed his Redbacks into the box seat at the Sportsground as well, producing a clinical all-round showing to leave Rugby Union all but dead and buried.
Coughlan snared 3-12 as Rugby Union succumbed for 167, with Imran Qureshi (42), Niraj Dhakal (44) and Jono Colley (33) the only Bulldogs to make inroads, before banging out a quick-fire, unbeaten 86 before stumps.
He'll resume at the crease next weekend with his side sitting pretty at 1-135, with Mark Day the other unbeaten bat on 29.
"Everything just fell into place. I'd make a bowling or fielding change, and a catch would go to that bloke. It was just one of those days," Coughlan said.
"They weren't taking their chances when we did. [Ben Orme] and I probably gave them two or three early on and they're the ones you have to take in first grade.
"Ormey and I were out in the middle and talking about how we had to settle down a bit. We were trying to overplay our hands a bit going from the nets to the Sportsground, which we all know is low and slow.
"Short rain delays put some moisture in the deck so we reassessed and slowed up a bit when we lost Benny for 23 and Mark and I just wanted to take it into next week."
Cavaliers have the upper hand against reigning Bathurst champions St Pat's Old Boys, the maroons punched out 201 before snaring three early wickets as the Saints finished day one 3-42 in reply.
Youngster Cam Laird (91)shone for Cavaliers, falling just nine short of his maiden top grade ton but combining well with stand-in skipper Bailey Ferguson (42), before Mark Maybin (32 not out) made a vital contribution late.
Gus Cumming (2-4) went to work after that in his debut for Cavaliers, picking up two scalps as the Saints finished the day 3-42.
Like Orange City, Centennials Bulls have the option to bat on into day two after Kyle Aubin (69) and Nathan Foran (53) lead their side to 7-258 on day one, while CYMS look all but assured of picking up a first innings win over Kinross.
Tom Belmonte has the chance to notch his maiden first grade ton after working his way to 76 not out at stumps at Riawena, with his CYMS side 2-145 in reply to Kinross' 191.
