Reigning Royal Hotel Cup champions Centennials kept their title defence alive with a monumental effort on Wednesday night, producing the second-largest successful chase in the Twenty20 competition’s seven-season history to stay in the hunt.
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In a do-or-die fixture Centennials successfully chased CYMS’ 7-162 to lock up the last available semi-final spot in the competition and, incredibly, ran it down quite comfortably in the end.
Despite needing more than eight-an-over from the get-go the Bulls, thanks largely to their blistering top order, eventually secured the win with five wickets and six balls to spare.
The largest successful chase in the competition’s history came back in 2016-17, when the Lithgow Lightning incredibly ran down Bathurst City’s 174 for the loss of just three wickets.
Unsurprisingly, former Western Zone stars Josh Toole and Mick Curtale proved Centennials’ catalysts at Wade Park on Wednesday night.
Two of the most dangerous bats in the region in any form of the game, the pair combined in a swashbuckling, 91-run opening stand and turned a difficult chase into a reasonably straight-forward one as a result.
Curtale finished with 38 from 32 balls before being removed, while Toole went on to knock up 57 from 44.
The latter was dismissed with 31 still to get and while CYMS toiled hard in their bid to stifle the Bulls’ chase from there the Bathurst-based side’s middle order finished the job.
Blake Aubin, in particular, took that responsibility after replacing Toole at the crease.
Of the 31 left to get when he entered the fray Aubin blasted 23 of them and did so from just 13 balls, remaining unbeaten and helping secure the victory with an over to spare.
While Hugh Le Lievre (3-37) did everything he could with the ball to halt the Bulls’ momentum it was Adam Smith and Andrew Henry who, largely, pushed CYMS to their more-than-competitive score.
Opening up after skipper Chris Novak won the toss and elected to bat, Smith smashed a 25-ball 40 to kick the Orange side’s innings off in dominant fashion.
He and Matt Baker (7) added 60 for the first wicket during the powerplay, although CYMS lost 4-17 after that which slowed the innings down substantially.
Henry blasted 27 from 16 balls to swing momentum back to his side though, with Mitch Winslade (22) and Hugh Le Lievre (21 not out) also making quick, crucial contributions.
For CYMS the defeat ends their 2018-19 title tilt and actually marks the first time the 2014-15 champions have failed to qualify for the finals since the cup changed to the shortest format.
The Bulls, who started slowly by losing their first two games, finish second in pool B behind Cavaliers, and will now face either St Pat’s Old Boys or Orange City in the semi-finals.
The latter side has one preliminary game remaining, that clash will decide which of the two outfits claims top spot in pool A.
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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.
