Winless and anchored to the bottom of the Bathurst-Orange Inter-District Cricket standings, City Colts' season has all but hit dire straights as they prepare for a make-or-break fifth-round showdown with Bathurst City.
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The two sides have been among Bathurst's most-successful in recent years but while Redbacks' start to the summer has been promising, City Colts' has been diabolical as they've suffered defeats in the first four rounds.
City Colts all-rounder Dan Casey admitted it's been a lamentable start to the season but explained his side's battled injury and unavailability, problems which are set to continue in the final round before the Christmas break, the end of which marks the halfway point of the season.
"We haven't fielded our strongest side together and it doesn't look like we're going to before Christmas," Casey said.
"On paper we've got a great batting team when everyone's available but we haven't batted anywhere near our potential. We've got a fairly good bowling attack but injuries have mainly hit our bowlers.
"Matt Stephen's only been there for one game and then Matt Lawson's had niggling injuries.
"Dave Henderson's been there most weeks but he's been the only one of our main bowlers who's been fit."
On top of that, Redbacks have been somewhat of a bogey side for City Colts in recent years, winning six of the two sides' last seven encounters. Rain was all that stood in the way of a seventh Bathurst City win too, it arrived with Redbacks needing just one wicket to win, forcing a draw.
"We've got a healthy rivalry. We've both won plenty of competitions, Redbacks more in recent years, but we always have challenging games against them," Colts' Dan Casey said.
"They're a good team who are quite professional in way they go about their cricket. We can beat them but we need to play some very good cricket to do that."
The two sides face-off at Bathurst's Loco Oval from 1.30pm on Saturday.
In the other games St Pat's Old Boys play Rugby Union at Scots All Saints College, Kinross host Centennials at the school's Main Oval, Orange City face Cavaliers at Wade Park and Centrals play CYMS at Jack Brabham 2.
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