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BATTING first and sitting at 6-28 no cricketer is thinking win. Ever.
But after finding themselves in that exact position at Riawena Oval against Orange City on Saturday, CYMS Moroneys are on the cusp of their first Orange District Cricket Association first grade victory and, by and large, it’s thanks to Englishman Jono Cowan.
Cowan hit 56 coming in at number five for Moroneys, entering the crease when the score was 3-20 before it sunk further to be 6-28.
But lower-order partnerships between Cowan and Todd Murphy and then later Chris Smee, Hugh Davis and Gus Wilson helped Moroneys to 111.
Chasing the relatively meek first innings total, Orange City lost Pat Giuffre (two) and Shaun Grenfell (zero) early but never really looked vulnerable until Pat Madden clinched the crucial wicket of gun opener Jock Cartwright, who contributed 42 of the Warriors’ 60 runs before becoming the fifth wicket to fall.
Still needing 52 runs to win with five wickets in hand, the Warriors will need runs from handy bats like Matt Findlay and Jackson Coote, both of whom are still to come.
“It’s not the ideal position to be in,” Matt Findlay said.
“We bowled and fielded really well, got ourselves onto the front foot and then dug ourselves a hole with the bat.”
On top of his half-ton earlier, Cowan also took the wickets of Ben Findlay and Chris Warren to aid the Moroneys’ cause with figures of 2-6 off three overs.
Matt Findlay said the Moroneys bowling was top shelf.
“We could blame the lack of cricket recently, or a longish day in the field, but I don’t think that would do CYMS bowling justice,” he added.
“They bowled well in the situation and we played some lazy shots.
“It’s safe to say we don’t want to be the side to give Moroneys their first win in red-ball cricket and it’ll take some hard yakka with the bat to get over the line, but we’re confident of doing that.
“We’ve got some decent bats left in the shed and plenty of time, so we’ll certainly be backing ourselves.”
Earlier, Warriors veteran Andrew Rutledge took 3-15 off 12.5 overs while Grenfell also bagged three wickets in an impressive display with the ball.