Understrength and without either of their marquee players, Bathurst City skipper Joey Coughlan admitted his side landed at Wade Park for Sunday's Royal Hotel Cup clash against Kinross with one simple goal - win.
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Neither Dubbo's Ben Patterson nor Mudgee's James O'Brien could fill Redbacks' marquee slot on Sunday and the Bathurst 1000 wreaked havoc on selections, but with stars rolling back into the side for the rest of the preliminary campaign a victory would alleviate some pressure.
Redbacks picked up their victory, and a big one too.
After restricting Kinross to 8-92 the Bathurst District Cricket Association powerhouse made light work of the chase, rolling to a win with eight wickets and four overs in the bank.
We were able to give a lot of the guys the chance to do something and blow the cobwebs out.
- Bathurst City skipper Joey Coughlan
"We did it pretty easy in the end but it was good to get the result," Coughlan, who missed the clash himself through injury, said.
"Once we'd got ourselves into the box seat we were able to give a lot of the guys the chance to do something and blow the cobwebs out.
"With a lot of guys out and being the first game of the season we needed that too."
Clint Moxon (2-18) and Troy Grimshaw (2-8) were the best of the Redbacks' bowlers while Ben Orme (26) kick-started the chase before Mark Day (44 not out) and Oliver Simpson (16 not out) finished the job off comfortably.
"It was a tricky wicket, a bit two-paced and it was getting stuck in there a bit. (St Pat's Old Boys') Andrew Brown had told us that too after their game in the morning, so it was good to be able to adapt to it with the bat," Coughlan said.
Victory aside, Coughlan went on to say the most pleasing aspect of Redbacks' performance was those from the younger brigade, who picked up vital experience in the shortest format of the game.
"You do take plenty of out those games, from our perspective it was certainly a confidence boost as a side but also for the younger blokes in the team that did well," Coughlan said.
"A couple of those guys will take a lot of confidence from the way they bowled and it was really good to see them bowl to a field and execute some plans, that makes it a whole lot easier."
Bathurst City will wait until the end of next month before their next Royal Hotel Cup encounter with Cavaliers, while Kinross take on Lithgow on Friday, November 1.
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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.
