Ryan delivered his best innings of the Bathurst Orange Inter District Cricket season at the time where it mattered most, hitting an unbeaten 65 runs to help his Saints claimed a three wicket victory over Rugby Union in Saturday's preliminary final at George Park 1.

The Pat's captain arrived at the crease after watching his team slip from a comfortable position of 0-65 to 4-72 in their pursuit of Rugby's 6-183.

Andrew Brown (51) set a great platform for Pat's in their chase and could only watch on as Cooper Brien, Connor Slattery and Bailey Brien fell for a run of ducks.

Brown's dismissal and the early departure of Derryn Clayton (1) left Pat's on 6-102 and in serious trouble.

Ryan was dropped on the boundary early in his innings and that would prove to be the start of Rugby's downfall.

Together with Brendon Cutmore (27), Ryan began to chip away at the total during a match-winning 56-run stand for the seventh wicket.

It's been a rough season by Ryan's standards but his back-to-back scores in the 60s have given him confidence ahead of the team's upcoming grand final meeting with Cavaliers.

"It definitely goes down as one of the best wins that I've ever been a part of," Ryan said.

"The momentum swings in that match were crazy. We took a wicket with the first ball of the match but then they went on to 1-84, then they only get 30 in the next session but in that last session they got a few runs.

"Losing wickets in quick succession really put us back behind where we needed to be, and there was also cloud cover over us the whole day and we knew that if it came down we were in a pretty bad position.

"A massive credit goes to our bowlers. They seem to still be our strength. Our batting got the job done but Fearns [Matt Fearnley] came on to bowl 10 straight, Connor got a wicket first up, and him and Nicko [Nic Broes] really tied them down in the middle session."

Brad Rayner (2-21) picked up the big wickets of Nic Broes and Cooper Brien while Jameel Qureshi (2-38) and Sam Macpherson (2-39) each picked up multiple wickets.

Earlier in the day things got off to a disastrous start for Rugby when Imran Qureshi was dismissed on the first ball of the innings by Mitch Taylor, but captain Ryan Peacock (46) and Macpherson (38) put on 84 together to alleviate the early pressure.

Oliver Newton (35 not out) and Yousuf Qureshi (22 not out) provided late runs.

Slattery claimed 2-17 over his 10 overs to be the best bowler of the day.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: