St Pat's Old Boys pair Aiden Macauley and Connor Slattery combined to destroy Bathurst-Orange Inter-District Cricket rivals City Colts on Saturday, pushing their Saints in reach of an outright victory in a rematch of last year's Bathurst grand final.
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Macauley ran riot with the ball as City Colts' powerful batting line up once again faltered at Loco Oval, taking astonishing figures of 6-8 from just five overs, before Slattery delivered the decisive blow with an unbeaten 120 as his side easily claimed first innings points.
The pair helped the Saints bounce back in a big way from their loss to Orange City last round and with Pat's currently sitting at 7-251 and leading by 155 they will have maximum points in their sights this coming Saturday.
I just seemed to have it on a string... everything just seemed to be working.
- St Pat's Old Boys seamer Aidan Macauley
Macauley removed Jaden Ekert (8), Henry Shoemark (5), Dave Giorgio (6), Daniel Casey (0), Pat Hill (0) and Paul Clancy (1) in the space of just 20 deliveries, in a collapse of remarkable magnitude Colts lost their last eight wickets for a meagre 20 runs.
Matt Fearnley removed Colts' openers Wayne (35) and Dave Sellers (22), who were the team's only double-digit scorers.
Macauley's efforts were top shelf, especially for his first top grade appearance of the season.
"I just seemed to have it on a string, but I didn't feel like I was doing anything too special with the ball. Everything just seemed to be working and all the boys got around me which definitely made things easier," Macauley said.
"I had the start of the season off to focus on school and I only came back last week. I can't play next week, and I didn't get named in second grade, so I thought I was either having the week off or I'm down in President's Cup for the week.
"I got the call up to first grade which turned out to be a good experience."
Macauley's scalps included some of Bathurst's representative batsmen such as Shoemark and Ekert, and his efforts with the ball will undoubtedly see him earn more top grade caps.
Slattery then went on to enjoy a special day of his own, his century continuing his excellent start to the cricket season across all forms. He'd seen what brought about the downfall of Colts during their innings and worked hard to avoid similar mistakes.
He had too as well, considering his side had slumped to 4-20 in reply.
"We bowled few and they played at a few shots which could have been left, so I went out there telling myself to play straight, get on the front foot and play with soft hands," he said.
"I just played steady the whole way through. Those late runs helped a lot. I was really surprised when I came off the ground and heard we'd got the score to 250. Cooper Brien came out and smacked it everywhere which was really great to see.
"I've just been training really hard this season, getting myself to the nets a lot and it's all about confidence for me. If I'm confident then I normally go pretty well."
Brien finished the day with a quick-fire 62 while Brendon Cutmore prevented middle order dramas with an important 26.
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