In terms of looks he’s the polar opposite to Father Christmas but on Saturday afternoon at Cam Rasmussen played the role of Santa, delivering his Centrals the perfect present at Wade Park – their first win of the Orange District Cricket Association summer.
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On a deck playing plenty of tricks Rasmussen exploited the conditions perfectly to snare his maiden top grade five-wicket haul, snaring 5-34 from 10 overs to help rout CYMS for a skinny 122.
His side knocked that off with seven wickets in hand to taste victory for the first time in 2018-19.
“He just bowled beautifully,” Centrals skipper Daryl Kennewell said.
“It was a tricky deck, there was a bit happening out there, and he just put it in the right spot and ended up picking up five. They’re his best figures ever actually, in any cricket, and he certainly enjoyed it afterwards.
“It’s good to see him do well because he just loves cricket and he’ll certainly never let you down.
“The win itself, it’s good to get one up. We haven’t been far away all season it was just a matter of getting a few little things right, which we did on the weekend.”
The victory also lifts Centrals off the bottom of the ladder, with Orange City taking down Kinross the red and blacks leapfrog the students into fourth.
“You never want to be on the bottom so that’s nice,” Kennewell said.
“But we don’t read into that too much, look at last summer. We were coming second and third all season then lost our last game and finished with the wooden spoon.
“It’s the best way to finish 2018 we could’ve hoped for, so we’ll just try and push harder in the new year now and see where we are come mid-February.”
Zac Reimer also took 4-21 from 10 overs in an excellent performance, with only Tom Belmonte (28) and Sonny Day-Tennant (20) managing any real headway for CYMS, who remain on top of the ladder despite the loss.
Centrals lost Will Richard (0) second ball of the innings in a horrible start to the chase, but Jack Dodds (48) and Matt Tedeschi (31) added 85 for the second wicket to get their side back on track.
Once they were removed, George Olsen (21 not out) and Dean Turner (17 not out) knocked off the 35 remaining for victory.
“Jacky and Teddy did a great job after that start, it wasn’t ideal to lose Wilbur early,” Kennewell said.
“But they worked really hard on that deck to put on that 85 and get us back in a great position.
“It’s never about individuals’ performances but for me it was really great to see young guys like Cam, Zac and Jacky Dodds really stand up and get the job done.”
Brett Causer continued his excellent recent form on Saturday afternoon, taking another four wickets as his Orange City side hammered Kinross and moved with one victory of the Orange District Cricket Association competition lead.
Combined with Centrals’ win, the Warriors’ 110-run victory leaves them trailing the green and golds by just two points going into the Christmas break.
After Craig Rogan (65), Jeremy Bartier (56) and Lachlan Coyte (44) pushed Orange City to 6-249, Causer rolled through the students’ top order to leave them reeling in the chase.
Kinross had worked their way to 0-25 before Causer took the ball, and he promptly dismissed Will Luelf (10), Harry May (0) and Stu Crisp (14) to leave the students 3-30.
With those scalps, he actually took 3-0 from his first three overs before finishing with 4-24 from 10 as Kinross succumbed for just 139.
After going wicketless through the first portion of the summer Causer’s now taken 8-48 in his last two long-form games, and another three scalps in the Twenty20 Royal Hotel Cup, all in the last month.
Alex Brien (35) and Sam Ridley (29) were Kinross’ only bats who really troubled the scorers, with Blake Weymouth (2-34) and Shaun Grenfell (3-7) also taking multiple scalps.
The ODCA first grade season resumes on January 12, Centrals will face Kinross at Wade Park while the Warriors play Cavaliers at Riawena Oval.
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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.
