The Orange District Cricket Association player-of-the-year polling is set to go behind closed doors early in the new year, but at the halfway point of the 2018-19 summer there’s a distinct Cavaliers feel about the top gong’s leaderboard.
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Cavaliers may have dropped to third after leading the competition for much of the opening half of the season, but the maroons still account for 50 per cent of the top 10 MVP candidates at this stage and, incredibly, fill all of the top three spots too.
The award is separate to the competition’s best and fairest and is determined by a points system which takes all cricket – club, district and higher levels – into account, and as a result young gun all-rounder Ryan Kurtz leads the count so far.
Kurtz has enjoyed a consistent start to the summer for Cavaliers and Orange, in which he’s plundered a combined 401 runs at an average of 36.45 and taken 17 wickets at a miserly 11.29, and has tallied 778 points as a result.
The majority of his points have come from club cricket, where he’s tallied 604 compared to his 174 for Orange.
He holds a narrow, 24-point lead from his Cavaliers skipper Matt Corben (754), who has had a quieter start to the ODCA summer but has been prolific for Orange and also represented the Central West Wranglers and Western Zone.
Corben’s still scored 194 runs at 38.8 for Cavaliers, but for the Bluebaggers he’s been incredible, compiling 199 at a whopping 66.3 and fallen just short of centuries twice.
While there’s a big, 107-point gap between Kurtz and Corben and the rest of the field, it’s another maroons and Bluebaggers spinning all-rounder in Mitch Black (647) that rounds out the top three.
In his first summer since shifting from Wagga, Black has taken a stunning, combined total of 26 wickets already this year at a ridiculous average of 8.11, with best figures of 8-19.
That spell came in Orange’s President’s Cup win over Lithgow.
Jackson Coote is Orange City’s lone representative in the top 10 and is the next best. Having also represented Orange, Central West and Western he’s tallied 604 points, with CYMS’ Hugh Le Lievre (530) rounding out the top five despite only playing one game above the club level.
Reigning player-of-the-year Josh Doherty (502), from Cavaliers, along with Centrals’ Zac Reimer (460) and Fletcher Rose (431), Cavaliers’ Bailey Ferguson (413) and Centrals’ skipper Daryl Kennewell (405) round out the top 10, respectively.
The Orange District Cricket Association season resumes on January 12, with Cavaliers facing Orange City and Centrals playing Kinross.
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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.
