Although his side has notched a victory from their only Royal Hotel Cup start this summer, Orange City skipper Ed Morrish had no hesitation in labelling Friday night's clash against the Lithgow Lightning a 'make-or-break' encounter.
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The Warriors knocked off Centennials first-up and Lithgow beat Kinross so both outfits still sit inside the top four but with a reasonably tough run into the finals, Morrish said a win is crucial to his side's aspirations of being there in the clutch.
"We've got CYMS, who are unbeaten, and then Centrals in our last two games and I don't think any side which loses two of their four group games will end up in that final four," Morrish said.
Having (Mick) Curtale come into the side is obviously huge, we've seen in the past how influential a good marquee player can be.
- Orange City skipper Ed Morrish
"With that it would provide a bit of peace of mind knowing our last two games might not necessarily be must-win games if we win this one. Granted, we'd rather just win every game we play but you do need to consider different scenarios in this format.
"Lithgow have a tougher run in that us too so we know they'll be up for it on Friday night, they've had the better of us in recent years so we'll need to make sure we don't have those lapses we have against them in the past."
The Lightning face Bathurst City and Centennials in the run home and come into the game having not suffered defeat at the Warriors' hands in the Twenty20 format, although their wins have come with a substantially different side to this summer's.
While Bathurst's Jaden Ekert acted as Orange City's marquee player in their round one win over the Bulls in early October, Morrish confirmed the inclusion of former Western Zone ace Mick Curtale for Friday night's clash.
The hard-hitting, Cowra-based all-rounder comes into a Warriors outfit already brimming with in-form danger men, with Morrish, Lachie Coyte, Blake Weymouth and Dave Boundy all well and truly among the runs in the long form.
"There's guys doing really well but obviously [Bathurst-Orange Inter-District Cricket] is two-day cricket and it's very different, it's better than not having any runs on the board though," Morrish said.
"Having Curtale come into the side is obviously huge, we've seen in the past how influential a good marquee player can be, look at what Ben Patterson did for Bathurst City last week.
"We don't want to put too much pressure on him to do that for us because we've got a lot of good players around him, so here's hoping he just adds to our side and complements what we've already got."
Orange City face Lithgow from 6.30pm on Friday evening.
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