Round 1: The New Season is Underway

It was an interesting opening day of the new season with Bailey Ferguson scoring the first century for the season and teams rolling out their new recruits.

St Pats Old Boys got their title defence off on the right foot with victory in their all-Bathurst clash with Rugby Union at the Sportsground. After being sent in, St Pats made a promising start with their openers Bailey Brien and Andrew Brown putting 53 runs on the board before new Rugby Union recruit Aquinder Dhillon had Brown out caught for 30.

That brought the Brien brothers together who proceeded to add a further 51 runs to the total before Seth Norris removed Bailey for 53. Norris took his second wicket shortly after to remove Lachlan Barnsley, bringing Connor Slattery and Cooper Brien together. The pair added a further 66 runs to the Saints total before Slattery fell to Peter Johns for a run-a-ball 34. Brien fell a short while later for 68 off 57 deliveries, before the tail pushed the team's total along to 9-229. Jayden Brasier was the best with the ball for Rugby Union, taking 3/26 from his 8 overs and Seth Norris finished with 2/58.

In their reply, Rugby were in early trouble at 3-23 as St Pats opening pairing of Guy Hammond and Hugh Parsons made early inroads. Kobe Muir and Ruben Newton steadied the ship for the Bulldogs, adding 102 for the 4th wicket to have their chase back on track, but the dismissal of Newtown for 62 triggered a collapse as Rugby lost their last 7 wickets for 31 runs to be all out for 156. Muir finished with a patient 51. St Pats were best served with the ball by a couple of their new recruits, with George Pocklington taking 3/33 from his 8 overs and Guy Hammond 2/18 from his 6. Harry Fearnley (2/17) was the other multiple wicket taker.

Around the corner at Loco Oval, Centrals took the opportunity to bat first against the home side, making 214. After a shaky start to his team's innings, skipper Satveer Gill who made an unbeaten 64 from 52 deliveries to top score for his side, added 81 for the 5th wicket with Neil Brydon (44). Opener Rahul Narwal also made 36 as the visitors were all out with an over remaining. City Colts newcomers Braeden O’Donnell (3/30) and Will Cross (3/55) were the pick of the City Colts bowlers while Zayne Rippard also picked up 2/44.

City Colts were almost ruthless in their chase as they ran down the required runs inside 30 overs to secure the bonus point and go direct to the top of the table. For Colts, Will Cross made an unbeaten 91 from only 78 deliveries to lead the chase for the home side, while Henry Shoemark (35 off 22 balls) and Connor Brown (28) also made handy contributions. Awais Qadri and Satveer Gill each picked up 2 wickets.

At Orange’s Riawena Oval, Cavaliers made an impressive start to their season with a thumping win over Orange CYMS. After winning the toss and batting, new skipper Bailey Ferguson made his intentions clear as he punished the CYMS bowlers early on, even as wickets fell at the other end. Ferguson plundered 124 from 85 deliveries for the first century of the BOIDC season. Max Powell with 28 runs was next best as Cavaliers were bowled out in the second last over for 237. Greg Donaldson was the pick of the CYMS bowlers taking 3/32 from his 8 overs with Lachlan Wykes not far behind with 3/44. Kaeden Posthumus also bagged a double taking 2/45.

CYMS struck early trouble in their innings, as the Cavaliers’ opening bowling duo of Kyle Buckley (3/37) and Bailey Ferguson (2/21) combining to have the green and golds 5 down inside 10 overs. CYMS were never able to recover from there, even after a couple of sixes from Lachlan Wykes (29) toward the end and were eventually bowled out for 124. George Fisher had earlier made 32 at the top of the order to top score for his side. Toby Middleton (2/27) and Max Pearce (2/38) also picked up multiple wickets for Cavaliers.

At Wade Park, Orange City posted 8-185 from their 40 overs against Bathurst City, with Ryan Smith and Fletcher Byrne each making 38. Liam Cain took 3/30 for Redbacks, with Matt Holmes (2/32) and Blake Kreuzberger (2/28) also taking multiple wickets.

Holmes then combined with Kreuzberger to add 86 for the first wicket, getting their team off to the best possible start before Kreuzberger fell for 43. A couple of further wickets had Orange City still in the hunt until Jed Cruickshank combined with Holmes to get their team within sight of victory. Holmes fell to City skipper Brett Causer 5 runs short of his century and within sight of victory for his team. Cruickshank and Cohen Schubert added the finishing touches to secure the victory for their team with 6 wickets in hand. Shaun Grenfell picked up a couple of wickets for Orange City, finishing with 2/41.