Standout performances by Hayden Griffith and Angus Cornish propelled Orange's junior rep teams to a pair of wins on Sunday.
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Taking on Bathurst, the under 16s (Bloomfield Oval) and under 14s (Riawena) secured 27 and 39 run victories in what were rescheduled round one games which had been called off due to rain back in December.
Stu Middleton coached the under 14s side and praised the resilience shown after they slumped to 8-75.
Bathurst had us under the pump those first ten overs," he said.
"But there were a couple of handy partnerships with Hayden Griffith (35) the standout. We only got 128, but anything between 100 and 150 is defendable there at Riawena in that age group."
With the ball in hand, it was all about drying up the runs.
"The plans were we had to bowl stump to stump and be boring," Middleton added.
"The boys are probably sick of me saying it but as a bowler you have to work on your partnerships, same as a batter. Don't do anything out of the ordinary unless you think there's a chance to take a wicket."
Bathurst made their way to 30 before the loss of their first wicket, but it took them 12 overs to do so.
It was then time for spinners Tommy Maurice (3-13 off nine) and Oliver Brincat (2-16 off eight) to take over.
"The spinners came on in that second session and really tied them down and that's where we started to get a few wickets," Middleton said.
"The Bathurst guys were pushing for runs and we took our chances."
Over at the 16s match, Cornish ran riot.
Batting first, the home fell to 3-14. This brought Cornish (59) and Tom Blowes (30) to the crease who steadied the ship and put Orange back in the driver's seat.
Some lower-order hitting by Oliver Jarick (21) and Seth Mulhall (17) helped them reach 174 before being bowled out.
With the ball, it was once again Cornish who was the standout as the captain finished with figures of 4-20 from his ten overs. Blowes (2-35) and Darcy Hamling (2-12) also chipped in with a pair each.
Bathurst would eventually be bowled out for 147.
Both teams The under 14s will now travel to Dubbo this weekend, while the 16s host Lachlan. The under 12s will also be back in action when they host Dubbo.
"Bathurst and Dubbo are probably the stronger sides in our comp and I wanted our boys to play them, which is why we asked Central West to re-jig the fixtures for the competition after the wash-outs," Middleton added.
"I was pleased with the effort and there can be a lot of improvement batting-wise so we'll see how we got this week in Dubbo."
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