A 33-ball half-ton from wickekeeper-bat Lachie Coyte helped lift Orange City to a tournament-opening Royal Hotel Cup victory over Centennials Bulls on Sunday afternoon, his quick-fire dig setting the Warriors up to ultimately claim a 41-run win.
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From first drop Coyte finished with 58, lasting five more balls after passing the milestone, of the Warriors' 6-149, which they defended comfortably by restricting the Bulls to 6-108 at Country Club Oval.
He combined beautifully with fellow young gun Blake Weymouth (34 from 33), after coming together at 2-14 the pair added 91 for third wicket at better than a run-a-ball.
The way we bowled and fielded was probably the most pleasing thing, we were outstanding.
- Orange City skipper Ed Morrish
"They both batted beautifully, we lost Jaden Ekert and Shaun Grenfell in the first few overs which wasn't ideal but Coytey and Blakey did a great job to steady the ship and then give us a foundation to build from," Orange City skipper Ed Morrish said.
Morrish (15 from 11) and Nathan Rosser (12 from 14) also made valuable contributions for the Warriors, before Brett Causer (2-8) and Grenfell (2-21) were their major wicket-takers as the Bulls fell well short in the chase.
Causer's miserly figures came from four economical overs and were a huge reason Centennials couldn't wrestle their way into the box seat, they simply fell too far behind the required run rate early.
After his side's big-name, top-order bats like Joel Gurney (12) and two-time Carl Sharpe Medal winner Ryan Gurney (7) were kept quiet, Blake Aubin tried to inspire a fightback with a well-made 53, but the Bulls ran out of overs.
"The way we bowled and fielded was probably the most pleasing thing, we were outstanding in both aspects," Morrish said, he also took 1-19 from four economical overs.
"[Causer] keeping them quiet like that early put us well and truly in the box seat and we just wanted to keep the pressure on from there, and not let it off with wayward bowling or ordinary fielding.
"We kept it on and got the job done, which is great being so early in the season."
The clash was brought forward from this week due to the Bulls' unavailability over the Bathurst 1000 weekend, and Morrish admitted he was a touch worried his side would be underdone.
"Every win in this competition's so important so we probably would've preferred the extra week of training but we got the job done, we're really pleased with that, you always have a bit more confidence with an early win under your belt," he said.
Reigning champions St Pat's Old Boys start their title defence in the marquee, Twenty20 tournament's next clash, from 10am at Wade Park next Sunday. Bathurst City face Kinross after that at the same ground from 2pm.
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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.
