ONE over, four wickets then going on to claim his second five-wicket haul in three weeks - Cooper Borgstahl's start to the new Bathurst District Junior Cricket Association season just keeps getting better.
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The ORC opens-under 15s bowler was delighted when he took 5-11 in the 2020-21 season opener against Saint Stanislaus' College under 15s, a match which also saw him on a hat-trick on one stage.
In round two against Scots All Saints' College Opens rain made things tougher, ORC coach Matt Ryan saying it was "like bowling with a cake of soap" before the match was abandoned.
But the sun was back out for round three and Borgstahl again did the damage for ORC, this time taking 5-10 off three overs to help the Tigers to a 152-run win.
This time Borgstahl found himself on a hat-trick twice.
"The kids have to bowl stump to stump and that's exactly what he did," Ryan said.
"His first over he went wicket, wicket, so he was on a hat-trick ball after his first two balls, then he went dot ball, dot, and then wicket, wicket again so he was on another hat-trick in the first ball of his second over.
"So he was on a hat-trick twice in seven balls. He just bowled stump to stump, two of them were bowled and three of them were catches, so he did really well.
"He didn't get a hat-trick, but he picked up his fifth wicket four or five balls later."
Ryan, who was standing at square leg, said both hat-trick deliveries the seamer bowled were good and very watchfully played by the Stannies' batsman who faced.
While those deliveries did not land him another special bowling moment, Borgstahl's performance was one his coach certainly enjoyed watching.
"They were adamant they were just going to block those hat-trick balls. We had them surrounded and they had to play at them, both times they played defensively and kept it out unfortunately," he said.
"It doesn't matter what the opposition is like, you've got to bowl straight to give yourself a chance and that's what he did.
"He took a five-for in his first game and then two weeks later he takes another five-for, it's amazing.
"I've seen nothing like it no."
Borgstahl is just the fourth bowler in the opens-15s competition to have claimed two five-wicket hauls in the last decade, joining a list which includes his ORC team-mate Jacob Ryan (2018-19), Aiden Macauley (2016-17) and Atticus Strong (2014-15).
His average this season stands at a wicket every 3.4 runs while his strike rate is an average 5.3 deliveries per wicket.
"He's easily the leading wicket-taker now in the opens comp and he's younger too, he's only in Year 9 so he's a lot younger than a lot of these other boys who are in Year 11 and 12, he's doing really well," Ryan said.
"We had young Liam Meekin [3-13 off three] bowling from the other end and those two young kids are by no means our strike bowlers either, we have three boys who are playing second grade and are pretty fiery.
"This year is more of those boys taking that back step and letting these kids who are younger step up and take that limelight, they've done it well, they've handled it really well."
