A massive crowd was treated to a brilliant display of cricket at Wade Park on Wednesday night as all sides came together for a T20 exhibition match.
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Each of the 16 sides put forward one or two players for the match, which then formed the Gold and Black sides.
The Gold side came away with the win in front of about 500 spectators after man of the match Kai Brunker took a phenomenal 6-8 off four overs of near-unplayable spin.
Gold also performed well with the bat, Aki Rana making a classy 29 at the top of the order and Regan Smith top scoring with an unbeaten 32.
Josh Gooderick starred with the ball for the Black side, taking 4-28 from his four overs as Gold made its way to 9-110 from its 20 overs.
The Black side never really had the chance to get started before being swept away by the Brunker train, with Brunker taking three wickets in his first two overs, including a near hat-trick, to leave Black 3-3 off four overs.
They never really recovered, and despite a 40-run stand from Joel Whalan (33 not out) and Liam Newman (22), they were left with two much to do, needing 24 from the final two overs.
Gold coach Mitch Cooper said while it was nice to get the win, he was more proud of the way his players went about it.
“It’s not the winning aspect. I met these boys at 5.30 today and shook hands with them, learnt their names and those boys acted like they’d known each other for four years,” he said.
“They had fun, they’re all really talented and fun to be around.
“The way they displayed themselves out on the field, I’m really proud of them.”
He heaped praise on man of the match Brunker.
“He was like, the most energetic kid he was absolutely outstanding,” Cooper said.
“The energy he brought to the team, he was absolutely hilarious, and he was also the youngest kid on the team. The way he bowled and energy-wise, he was amazing.
“Big mention to Lachlan Malcolm, who as captain was very mature. Credit to all the boys, they did really well.”
Coach of the Black side Jack Daintith said the game was “really good fun”.
“It was a good game, two good teams, it was good,” he said.
“It’s good to see so many people from all around NSW come down and see cricket in Orange.”