IGNORANCE is bliss.
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Orange plays Mudgee on Sunday in the second round of the Mitchell Cricket Council colts competition, and Kinross all-rounder Andrew Johnson said knowing little of their opponents will work in his team’s favour.
“All I’ve heard is they were reasonably strong last year,” he said.
“But not knowing them is an advantage for us, we can just concentrate on ourselves. With the team we’ve got I think we’ll do really well.”
The game was moved from Riawena Oval to Wade Park, and Johnson said playing Mudgee at home is a huge plus for Orange.
“Getting them here is pretty massive for us,” he said.
“We know the conditions, we know the deck and Mudgee have to travel to us.”
The 17-year-old came from nowhere this season, debuting for Kinross in first grade against Centrals in round one.
Since then, the slippery medium pacer has taken seven wickets at an average of 32.2, and made his debut for Orange in both the colts, and open representative teams.
“I love playing for Orange,” he said.
“I see it as a challenge and the experience has taught me a lot about the way I bowl and bat.”
Johnson said Orange would be wary of a young Mudgee line up but expects his teammates to get the job done.
“As a bowling unit, if we can work hard and limit the boundary balls we should be able to restrict them pretty well,” he said.
“That’s one of the main things I’ve taken from playing at a higher level, you can’t bowl those bad balls every over.
“We can look to exploit the pace and bounce at Wade Park, Mudgee won’t be used to this kind of deck.”
Orange takes on Mudgee at Wade Park tomorrow, play starts at 10am.
n ORANGE: Hamish Finlayson (c), John Warrington (vc), Charles Litchfield, James Ryan, Jake Pauletto, Matt Corben, Max Dodds, Jono Warren, Andrew Johnson, Braden Riles, Sam Nicholls, Tom Rogers.
n MUDGEE: Troy Kenny (c), Andrew Best, Harry Ottley, Stuart Fredericks, Luke Norris, Cameron Cox, Hayden Cox, Brad James, Adam Callaghan, Tom Lawson, Damian Doherty.