Cavaliers took first innings points against Kinross in their Orange District Cricket Association first grade match on Saturday.

Kinross had made 149 the previous week and on Saturday Cavaliers were able to pass that total by tea.

They were then removed for 180 before Kinross batted again and finished at 5-56 at stumps.

The key to Cavaliers’ win was the opening partnership of Stu Middleton (34) and James Ryan (31) who made 68 for the first wicket.

Brad Wright then chipped in with 43 before captain Richie Venner contributed 38 to help Cavs to 180.

“That was always the plan chasing a smaller total,” Venner explained.

“The first five or six guys needed to build partnerships and not lose wickets in bunches and we did that.

“We passed their total five-down at tea. There was still a lot of cricket left. We had the decision to either keep batting and post a total or declare and try to push for the outright. We decided to keep batting on. We lost our last five wickets for about seven runs which wasn’t good.”

Chris Gavin played a key role for Kinross with the ball taking 5-34 for the game, including three wickets in his last over.

Sam Nicholls (2-44), Tom Bristow and (2-24) and Charlie Litchfield (1-13) also took wickets.

Kinross then went back in with the bat with Charlie Litchfield’s 17 the best.

Mark Maybin took 2-1 and Greg Martin (1-9) and Brad Wright (1-5) were also in the wickets.

Kinross player-coach Andrew Litchfield was impressed with his team’s performance against the competition heavyweights.

“We bowled them out for 180 which was good,” he said.

“We had another bat which was good for both sides. Cavs wanted to try and force the outright and it was good for our guys to have to knuckle down and see out the overs.”

Litchfield said there was one area of his side’s game which they needed to work on.

“We just leaked that one four-ball an over and with guys like Stu Middleton and Brad Wright, they put that away to the boundary,” he said.

Litchfield was still happy with his bowlers’ efforts.

“Chris (Gavin) bowls very accurate offspin. He’s a great asset to have in the side,” Litchfield said.

“Sam Nicholls bowled well and so did out captain Tom Bristow.

“We created a few chances.”

The player-coach was also happy with what he saw in the field.

“Nick Lukins took one of the best slips catches I’ve seen in a long time,” Litchfield explained.

“He took another skied ball, so two great catches.”

Venner said he was happy with his team’s performance but added they were far from their best yet.

“We’re playing well but we can still play a lot better,” he said.