IN THE SWING: Stuart Naden was great on debut for Orange in the Western Premier League match against Dubbo. Photo: STEVE GOSCH 007sgcrick3
JORDAN Moran couldn’t have asked for a better first game as Dubbo captain.
Moran belted a century as he led Dubbo to a one-wicket Western Premier League win over Orange at Wade Park.
The game was in the balance in the final stages as Dubbo needed two runs to win while Orange needed one last wicket.
It went to Dubbo as they made 9-225 to pass Orange’s 9-224 with an over to spare.
“I’m relieved because it’s my first game as captain,” Moran said after the win.
“Full credit to Orange because they stuck in there.”
Orange batted first and looked shaky at 6-96 with opener Matt Findlay (39) the only one to make an impact.
Stuart Naden, on debut, stepped up at number six and worked his way to 58 and his 79-run partnership with Liam Gough (27 not out) helped Orange to 9-224.
“We were looking at under 200 at one stage but then Stu Naden batted well,” Moran said.
“Matt Saul bowled well. He turned the game for us.”
Saul took 4-16 from his 10 overs while Greg Buckley claimed 2-43 from his nine overs.
Dubbo didn’t have the ideal start with the bat when openers Jason Ryan (3) and Nathan Munro (6) fell cheaply to have the side at 2-25.
Moran led by example as he worked his way to 102.
His partnerships with Buckley (20) and Mitch Bower (20) helped Dubbo to 4-167.
The Orange bowlers then worked their way through the batsmen and nearly took the win.
However, Ben Strachan (12 not out) was able to score the winning runs for Dubbo.
Naden performed with the ball taking 3-42 while Liam Gough (2-36) and Josh Sands (2-35) also took multiple scalps.
Orange captain Trent Colley wasn’t disappointed with the result after going so close.
“We took it to them. You need to do that with Dubbo. You need to attack them and make them think,” Colley said.
Colley singled out Naden and Gough for praise for their strong all-round efforts.
The Orange rep side will be back on deck this weekend in Bathurst for the President’s Cup.
Colley said his team is well-prepared despite WPL losses to Mudgee and Dubbo.
“Obviously we didn’t get the result but now we’ve had two games together going into the President’s Cup,” he said.
Orange will take on Blue Mountains in Saturday’s first game and the captain described them as an “unknown quantity”.