A NEW 2020-21 Bathurst Orange Inter District Cricket partnership record of 166 runs between Sam Macpherson (89) and Imran Qureshi (69) helped Rugby Union achieve a win over CYMS and in the process take a leap up to third place on the ladder.
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The opening pair for Rugby helped to take their team to a total of 5-269 while CYMS could only muster up 211 in reply at Wade Park, though the chase wasn't without some scary moments for the Bathurst club.
Qureshi was relatively patient with his effort while Macpherson cut loose on the CYMS attack from the get go, hitting 12 fours and a six with a strike rate of 144.
When Macpherson finally fell to the bowling of Tom West the runs didn't stop for the Rugby boys thanks to Jameel Qureshi (38 not out).
Rory Daburger (2-23) and Hugh Le Lievre (2-48) were the best with the ball for CYMS.
The CYMS chase had plenty of promise thanks to Jack Cale (69), who was promoted way up the order from 10 to five and looked comfortable in his new spot.
But the Rugby attack, who all got in on the wicket-taking action, stopped CYMS well short of the target.
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Macpherson said he and Qureshi said Saturday's effort was just about trying to keep things sensible so they could make the most of a typical batting-friendly Wade Park deck.
"It's always great batting with Imran. He's pretty settled between the ears and runs well between the wickets and it's great having that left-right combo," he said.
"I just saw the ball and hit the ball. Runs do come easier at Wade Park, but Imran was never feeding me strike. We just went at our own pace.
"We ran between wickets, rotated strike pretty quickly. It was just a great batting deck all day. Our bowlers got little out of the deck too."
Oliver Newton (21), Brad Glasson (17) and Evan Jones (11 not out) added useful runs for Rugby.
Those extra runs proved handy against a CYMS side with plenty to offer in the chase.
The hosts may have ended up short but they were never really out of the contest thanks to supporting efforts from Tom (33) and Harry (23) West.
"We were short on bowlers with Thackers [Jeremy Thackray] and Percy [Raveneau] out so we needed a few part timers but they had to go at seven an over from the start. We managed to tie them down pretty well," Macpherson said.
"They did have a good crack at it though.
"It's great to be sitting in third. We've won four on the trot now. Obviously finals are the go but we're only just past the halfway point of the season but there's a lot of cricket left and it's quite congested up there."
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Alexander Grant
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
Part of the Western Advocate's sports desk in Bathurst.
