Orange Public School can now lay claim to being one of the best cricket sides in the state following Tuesday's NSW Primary School Sports Association Knockout finals series at Raby, the blue and golds finishing second.
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OPS roared into NSW's top four with dominant showings through the 2019 tournament's opening seven rounds and then earned a grand final berth by skittling Narooma on Tuesday morning.
Of course a silver medal is a huge achievement nonetheless, but their fairy tale run was sadly brought to an end at the final hurdle by eventual champions Kingscliff that afternoon.
"From my perspective, one of the best things was the umpires telling the boys they were so impressed with the way they handled themselves," OPS coach Deb Smith said, she was assisted by Mike and Stu Middleton throughout the tournament.
"The boys were all really proud of their achievement but they did say how sad they were they won't get to play together as a team anymore, because they thought they really gelled well and I'd definitely agree with that."
The blue and golds' decider effort was unquestionable, but in the end a tight performance from Kingscliff's attack proved the big difference in a game slightly shortened by rain, with both sides losing five overs.
After coming to the crease at 3-37 Dan Ritchie did the bulk of the damage for OPS, finishing unbeaten on 39 and helping lift his side to a competitive 102 from their 20 overs, he was aided well by Tom Blowes (22).
OPS entered the field confident despite that target looking about 20 short of par, which is eventually proved to be as Kingscliff successfully chased with seven wickets and three overs to spare.
The Orange side's fielding effort was strong and they snared two run outs in their bid to stifle Kingscliff's chase, while Blowes took the side's only wicket to finish with figures of 1-14.
"I thought it was [a competitive score] but we had to battle the conditions when we were bowling, their effort was great though," Smith said.
Blowes was strong in OPS' semi-final win over Narooma too, leading the side's successful chase of 70 with a well-made 41 from the top of the order.
Zac Owens (17 not out) finished the job after, once again, the blue and golds' fielding effort led their charge. They produced a whopping five run outs to skittle their rivals for less than 100.
"That was the biggest thing we improved on, our fielding," Smith said.
"To see that kind of improvement and the way they went about things there, with the little things like backing up and working in pairs in the field, was really great."
OPS' second finish comes after the school's rugby union outfit achieved the same result, the boys' touch football side made the final eight and the blue and golds netball side were crowned state champions.
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