Bathurst-Orange Inter-District Cricket's top-of-the-table clash between Orange City and Cavaliers delivered at Wade Park on Saturday and the game hangs in the balance after the opening day, as do three of the other round five encounters.
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Kinross, Centrals and Bathurst City will resume their respective chases on day two in precarious positions, with the winless City Colts in the box seat of the latter game as they look to secure their first victory of the summer before the Christmas break.
Meanwhile, the third-placed St Pat's Old Boys dominated the opening day of their clash after being sent in and will look to potentially jump to second with a win, if the Matt Corben-inspired Cavaliers can't get the job done of course.
CENTRALS (2-36) trail CYMS (273) by 237 runs
A fighting, unbeaten ton from CYMS skipper Hugh Le Lievre lifted his side to a more-than-competitive total on day one at Jack Brabham 2, before two late wickets catapulted the green and golds into the box seat come stumps.
Battling a hamstring niggle, Le Lievre entered the fray at 3-104 after winning the toss and batting first, Tom Belmonte (52) continued his good form to once again get the side off to a good start from the top.
Ant Spruce chipped in with a handy 31 but CYMS' middle order did falter slightly, with wickets falling consistently to leave the side sitting precariously at 8-224.
Le Lievre was on 64 when the eighth wicket fell but received excellent support from his tail, and while Angus Wilson (1) and Al Dhatt (10) didn't contribute a lot of runs, they stuck with their skipper long enough for him to reach triple figures and helped add a potentially vital 49 runs at the end.
Le Lievre brought up his ton with the last of his 16 boundaries, finishing 101 not out as his side posted 273. Ed Dodds (3-41) was the best of Centrals' bowlers.
With 12 overs remaining in the day Wilson (1-14), Chris Novak (0-17) and Dhatt (1-4) tied the red and blacks up and also sent Nick Dunlop (14) and Logan Buckley (1) back to the pavilion late in the day.
Fletcher Rose (8 not out), the competition's second-highest run-scorer, and Jake Pauletto (12 not out) will resume at the crease on day two.
ST PAT'S OLD BOYS (6-308) lead RUGBY UNION by 308 runs
After making a number of promising starts across the opening four rounds of the summer Bailey Brien finally converted to make his maiden top grade ton for the Saints and catapult the Bathurst side to a formidable, day one total.
After losing Andrew Brown (2) early after being sent in by Rugby Union, Brien combined with skipper Adam Ryan (47) to add 100 for the second wicket and then linked with in-form all-rounder Connor Slattery (86) to pile on another 80 for the third.
Slattery helped Brien to his ton, before the youngster was eventually dismissed for a well-made 105, a good sign leading into Western Zone's McDonald's Country Cricket NSW Colts Championship this week.
Slattery continued on with David Cant (31) to push the score to 272, before Cooper Brien (23 not out) lifted the Saints past 300 as the shadows lengthened at Scots All Saints College.
All signs would suggest Ryan will declare before the start of play on day two.
ORANGE CITY (0-46) trail CAVALIERS (238) by 192 runs
Not for the first time this summer, or in recent years in fact, Cavaliers skipper Matt Corben hoisted his side onto his shoulders at Wade Park on Saturday afternoon and carried them to a reasonably-competitive total by banging out his second ton of the summer.
Corben, the competition's leading run-scorer, finished with 101 of Cavaliers' 238 before being caught and bowled by a leg-spinning Shaun Grenfell (4-98).
Combined with his mammoth 176 against CYMS and other big knocks of 89 and 92 this summer, Corben's now tallied more than 450 runs in the first half of the summer at a whopping average of 114.50.
But considering the next best was Charlie Greer's 29 and Orange City finished the day without losing a wicket, the maroons' total might not be enough to claim the top-of-the-table encounter's points.
Blake Weymouth and Ben Schofield continued their solid opening partnership by crucially knocking off 46 of the required runs before stumps, finishing the day unbeaten on 24 and 22 respectively.
That leaves the Warriors with at least 80 overs to make the remaining 193 to remain undefeated heading into the Christmas break.
KINROSS (3-54) trail CENTENNIALS BULLS (172) by 118 runs
Max Powell (21 not out) and Harry May (10 not out) will resume Kinross' chase after leading a small recovery mission late on day one, adding an unbeaten 32 after their side slumped to 3-21 in reply to Centennials' 172.
It was a day of swings and roundabouts for both sides as they constantly wrestled to control the momentum at Kinross Main Oval, although at stumps Centennials look to still be in the box seat despite their meagre total.
The students enjoyed the upper hand early after sending the Bulls in and promptly snaring their first three scalps for just 31, before Tyler Horton led the Bathurst side's resurgence single-handedly.
He pumped 87 to continue his good form and push the Bulls to a competitive total, no one else in the side passed 20 as May (4-29) ran riot with the ball.
BATHURST CITY (2-31) trail CITY COLTS (210) by 179 runs
After being swept in the first four rounds of the summer pre-season favourites City Colts have finally wrestled themselves into the box seat of a game, and it was two wickets late in the day at Loco Oval that cemented the upper hand.
Granted, City Colts have battled injury and unavailability so far this summer but there's still no denying their lack of performance, particularly with the bat, through the opening stages of the season.
The Bathurst side still didn't set the world on fire in posting 210 on Saturday afternoon, especially considering their middle and lower orders once again collapsed to the tune of losing their last eight wickets for just 76 runs.
But in sending Jeremy Rudge (0) and Cohen Schubert (12) back to the pavilion in the dying stages, with Dave Henderson (1-8) and Matt Lawson (1-8) picking up wickets, that tally has transformed from somewhat meagre to more than competitive.
Henry Shoemark bashed out his second half ton of the season for City Colts, leading their innings with 68.
He combined with the Sellers brothers, Dave (31) and Wayne (41), to lift the side to 134 before he became the second wicket to fall. Only David Giorgio (24) and skipper Pat Hill (21) managed double figures after that as City Colts limped to 210 after a reasonable start.
Rory Daburger (5 not out) and the in-form Mark Day (12 not out) will resume Redbacks' chase on day two.
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Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
