Adam Ryan savoured a rare win in Dubbo on Sunday and hailed the unity and culture within his Bathurst side after the commanding Western Zone Premier League performance.
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Bathurst scored a comfortable 52-run win at No. 1 Oval on Sunday and the captain was delighted by the all-round effort from his players.
No one player scored a half century or took more than three wickets, with numerous members of the Bathurst side playing a role.
Three of the top four passed 40 as Bathurst posted 240 batting first and then the bowling unit strangled the Dubbo lineup, restricting them to 9/188 in reply.
"The boys beat a formidable side and this is one of those games you really earmark to try and win throughout the season," Ryan said.
"It's one of the ones that means the most on the western calendar so I'm really proud of the boys after a great performance."
The most pleasing aspect for the skipper was the numerous players contributing to the win.
Jaden Ekert (49) and Imran Qureshi (44) put on 65 for the first wicket in quick time and then Ryan (22) and Henry Shoemark (43) ensured the runs kept flowing.
READ MORE: Five things we learned from BOIDC round one
Jameel Qureshi chipped in with 29 to help his side go well past 200 and while Nathan Jones (4/50) and captain Mat Skinner (3/50) were among the wickets the Dubbo attack never really got on top of their opposition.
Skinner may well have seen the writing on the wall early as he was forced to play the match with a bandaged head after having his eyebrow cut open by a ball in the pre-game warm-up.
"It's a bit disappointing," a bloodied Skinner said of the loss.
"They chanced their hand and got a little lucky early on but that's the way the game goes and our bowlers didn't bowl to the plans.
"They let us down early bowling two sides of the wicket and we couldn't set a field to it so that was disappointing and once they got the good start they kept plugging along and built up a reasonable total."
Skinner and his players felt a total of 240 was par for a flat No. 1 Oval and while the chase began in solid fashion, thing soon went pear-shaped.
Everyone is enjoying playing and wanting to play.
- Bathurst captain Adam Ryan
After Thomas Nelson (22) fell Jacob Hill and Doug Potter started to rebuild things but the middle order crumbled as three wickets fell for zero runs and soon after the Bathurst attack struck again.
Dave Henderson (3/35) did plenty of damage for Bathurst and debutant Clint Moxon (2/30) also fired but each of the six bowlers used made life difficult for the Dubbo batsmen.
All except Ben Wheeler struggled, with Rugby youngster made a fighting 58 not out but it was nowhere near enough as Dubbo fell well short.
"I'm very proud of the boys today," Ryan said after the win.
"It was a really good team performance. That was the most pleasing thing.
"You'd be splitting hairs if you were picking a players' player today and just the grit and willingness to keep concentrating in the field was really important to grind that win out."
Ryan went on to praise the culture within Bathurst cricket currently, with strong competition for places driving the representative side to some of its best results in recent times.
"Everyone is enjoying playing and wanting to play. That's good and it creates that pressure," he said.