Four runs to win. One wicket in hand. A turned down LBW shout from a hat-trick ball. One edge that raced away to the boundary.
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Orange breathed life back into its President’s Cup campaign on Sunday by sneaking home against traditional rivals Bathurst at the Sportsground on Sunday afternoon, winning by a solitary wicket in one of the great Mitchell Cricket Council clashes.
Chasing 157 for victory after a marvellous performance in the field, Orange was cruising at 4-137 before a stunning five-wicket collapse left the Bluebaggers reeling.
With that one wicket in hand Orange still needed six to win.
After Michael Waldren (4-23) dismissed Hugh Le Lievre (9) and Daryl Kennewell (4) in consecutive balls, then the least likely of heroes in Orange No.11 Scott Kennedy strode to the crease.
Fletcher Rose survived an over from Ben Parsons, a couple of wides helped Orange’s cause, before Kennedy faced his first ball – Waldren’s hat-trick delivery.
It rapped Kennedy on the pad, and Waldren was filthy after his impassioned LBW appeal was waved away.
Kennedy swung for the fences on the next ball, and missed, before edging the third.
Fortunately for Orange, it went just wide of Bathurst wicketkeeper Imran Qureshi’s grasp and ran away for four to give the Bluebaggers their first win over Bathurst – a side which has given itself the moniker Barracudas – since November 2013.
In that game, also at the Sportsground, it was also tense, but nowhere near as nail-biting as Sunday’s win.
After setting Bathurst 176 for victory, Orange produced a sterling effort in the field to restrict the hosts – who, bizarrely, pushed some of their most powerful batsmen to the bottom of the order – for 159.
“It was a good win for the boys … everyone stuck in, especially in the field for those first 17 overs,” Kennewell, Orange’s skipper, said of Sunday’s victory.
“We probably lost a few more wickets than we wanted to there chasing those last 20 runs but 9-157, we’ll take the win.
“It’s always good to build those combinations at the start and build an innings. We went out there thinking ‘they got 156 [but we’re chasing] 190’, because we thought it was a 190 pitch and that’s what we were batting towards.”
Hard-hitting Cavaliers opener Josh Doherty led the chase, smashing three sixes and seven fours on his way to 60.
He knuckled down early though, after the Bluebaggers lost Ben Findlay (0), Jack Dodds (4) and Max Dodds (1) to be in trouble at 3-28.
Doherty and Cavaliers teammate Matt Corben (34) added 67 for the fourth wicket, steadying the ship, before the latter added pushed the score to 137 with Tom Aggett (20) before he was dismissed. Then, Orange promptly lost 5-14.
At 9-151 Fletcher Rose (0 not out) and Kennedy (4 not out) came together, ultimately seeing the side home in the 43rd over.
“We didn’t quite put enough on the board,” Bathurst stand-in skipper Josh Toole said.
“We fought hard to get to the score that we did with a couple of late contributions from Wayne and Dave Sellers.
“The tailenders stuck around with them, which got us to a score that we could try and defend.
“We could have rolled over and given up but we fought right to the end with some good spells from Michael Waldren and Ben Parsons – a couple of the best spells I’ve seen for a while.”
Earlier in the day Rose had starred with the ball, taking 3-44 and doing the bulk of the damage as Orange rolled through Bathurst’s top order to leave the hosts reeling at 5-39. Kennewell (1-27) chipped in with a wicket and a crucial run out, catching Qureshi (0) short of his ground.
Wayne and Dave Sellers resurrected Bathurst’s innings, scoring 53 and 26 respectively before Josh Cheney (2-39) bowled the former and Findlay combined with wicketkeeper Corben to run out the latter.
Although the Bathurst side was a far cry from the one which qualified for the final four of the McDonald’s Country Cup in December, Kennewell said a win over the Barracudas is a massive confidence builder for the Bluebaggers.
From here, Orange will rely on the Blue Mountains to beat Bathurst in the final round of the President’s Cup on January 29 to guarantee them a final spot.
Otherwise, it’ll come down to quotient.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
