BATHURST will not get the chance to push for a 10th consecutive President's Cup trophy this summer, but there is another open Mitchell Cricket Council title the representative unit will target and they will do so on familiar wickets.
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Bathurst has been announced as the host for January's Mitchell Twenty20 Cup, a competition which will involve the hosts, Orange, Lithgow and Cowra.
"We will host as much as we can. Obviously with the grounds in close proximity to each other it makes it easier for selectors to see all teams and secondly, there's the convenience for teams to get between games," Bathurst District Cricket Association president Campbell Graham said.
"We certainly like playing on our wickets too, that's for sure."
Familiarity with the wickets will be an important asset for the Bathurst players as they look to be crowned the kings of Mitchell in the short format.
While Bathurst has players who have impressed in T20 - a number of whom helped the Central West Wranglers qualify for the Regional Bash semi-finals - Graham feels that defending premiers Orange are favourites.
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"Bathurst likes to be the dominant team in Mitchell, but T20 is a lottery. The way I look at it, any team can beat any team on any given day in T20, whereas 50-over cricket is a lot more structured and we've been the best around here for awhile in that form of the game," he said.
"Orange have played a lot more T20 with their Bonnor Cup, obviously a few Bathurst sides are in that competition, but Orange are a lot more drilled and play a lot more of that format.
"We tried the T20 format in our competition over here and it didn't sort of work for two years and we abandoned that. Our guys are getting a little bit more exposure to T20, but not as much as Orange and Lithgow do.
"They never count Bathurst as an underdog in Mitchell competitions, we're always a team to beat given what we've accomplished and it's very nice to have. So I'd like to think we are underdogs, but we never go into a game as an underdog."
Bathurst will meet Lithgow and Cowra will play Orange in the morning games at George Park on January 12 before the victors of those games contest the decider later that afternoon.
