The black and golds left plenty to be desired in their loss to Mudgee last weekend – their first of the summer – but coach Jo Hunter put that down to a bit of rustiness, which she hopes is out of her side’s system ahead of this weekend’s trip to play the Blue Mountains.

“It was the first game back from holidays, so I’m hoping we can get back to the kind of cricket we were playing before Christmas because it is important that we bounce back,” she said.

“It wasn’t just not scoring enough runs because I’d normally back us with about 90 on the board, they gave us some help bowling 30-odd extras too, but we didn’t bowl all that well either.

“We were too wide and too short. This weekend’s result won’t matter too much, we’ll finish second or third regardless but we’d like to find some form, get our bats some runs under their belt and have our bowlers hitting their targets a bit better.”

Orange trails competition leaders Mudgee by seven points, but even if the latter side suffers an upset loss to Lithgow this weekend the best the black and golds can do is slash the gap to three.

Orange’s under-14 and under-16 sides will be in action this weekend too.

It’s the only game left in the former competition, and the second-placed black and golds can move to the top of the standings with a win over the fourth-placed Blue Mountains.

In the under 16s, Orange is second and can only jump to first with a gargantuan win, which could lift the side’s quotient high enough to move past Bathurst.

All three games start at 10am, in the Blue Mountains.