Orange City and Cavaliers to face off in Royal Hotel Cup semi-final

Cavs are undefeated in all formats so far this campaign, and T20 skipper Bailey Ferguson pointed to the club's depth as a big reason why.

"It's absolutely awesome how we bat so deep," he said.

"There are guys in our team who bat eight and nine who could be batting three for any other club and the bowling depth in our team is ridiculous too. Then again, you still need to turn up on the day and play."

On the other end of the spectrum, the Warriors managed to squeak into the semi-finals despite completing just one of their four pool games, that being a 93-run win over Centennials Bulls. They are also currently fighting just to make the semi-finals in the Bathurst and Orange Inter District Cricket competition.

But captain Brett Causer knows they have the experience to fall back on if things get tough.

"Half of our team's been the nucleus of the side for the last four or five years and we've played in big games," he said.

"A lot of us don't really get up until those big games. The bigger the game is, a lot of our guys perform better so we're just happy to go out there and have a crack.

"We've played a lot of 20-20 with a similar team over the last four or five years so we all know what we're good at and what we're bad at, so we just need to execute on the night."

One big loss for City will be that of Mick Curtale who will be unavailable for Friday's semi-final. In his place will be Dave Boundy who is averaging a tick over 34 with the bat in the BOIDC but has yet to play a T20 game this season.

"Boundy is going to come in for this game and he's been getting runs at the top of the order too," Causer added.

"The last couple of weeks the top order batsmen have been getting a few runs which will no doubt be handy come Friday."

Despite playing grade cricket for Manly since the start of 2022, George Cumming will once again return for Cavs. He bowled well in his side's do-or-die match against Bathurst City on February 11 and finished with 1-19 off four overs.

Ferguson said he'll come in handy as the game goes on.

"He's awesome and we really like George," the captain said.

"He adds a little bit to our bowling line-up being a left arm orthodox. It's always tough if you have a left-arm spinner in your attack as we had (Mitch Black) last year. Having someone who can change their speed through the middle overs is pretty tough to play against."

But Ferguson noted there are plenty of match-winners on both teams.

"Ed Morrish and Causer are always tough with the ball," he said.

"They'll be pretty tough to score off in the first six. Then (Shaun) Grenfell and Boundy at the top, you've got to get them out early otherwise they're hard to stop too."

Friday's game at Wade Park begins at 6.30pm, with the winner to take on St Pat's Old Boys on March 4.

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