Cavaliers have secured the minor premiership following their first innings win over second placed Orange CYMS, at Riawena Oval over the past 2 Saturdays.
Cavaliers won the toss and batted first on day one, and were in early trouble at 3/53, but 71 from number 4 Max Powell and good contributions further down the order from Hugh Middleton (36), Charlie Greer (34) and Tom Blowes (32) pushed their team’s total to 248. Matt Burgess took 4/67 from 21 overs with the ball to be the best of the CYMS bowlers.
With 27 minutes to play before stumps, Cavaliers then removed form bat Joey Coughlan to have CYMS 1/26 at the end of day 1.
Some light drizzle greeted players for day 2, but that didn’t dampen the Cavaliers bowling effort. Some tight bowling eventually paid dividends when night watchman Harry Priest was dismissed and then with a further 2 quick wickets CYMS had fallen to 4/64. Rory Daburger (64) and skipper Tom Belmonte got the chase back on track, but with Belmonte’s dismissal at 120, and the run rate ever-growing, CYMS continued to lose regular wickets and were finally all out for 172. Kyle Buckley was the pick of the Cavaliers bowlers with 5/42, while Tom Blowes took 3/43 from 21 overs.
Over at Wade Park, 4th placed St Pats Old Boys secured a home semi final in their showdown with 3rd placed Orange City. Mitch Taylor reduced the Orange City first innings to rubble with his 8/29 off 16 overs. James Goldston-Morris made 31 of the Orange City first innings total of 73.
St Pats Old Boys then secured first innings points and made their way to 7/128 at stumps with Andrew Brown unbeaten on 75. Brown fell without adding to his score off the second ball of day two, but a 72 run partnership for the 9th wicket between Josh Willcox (36) and Ben Parsons (38no) helped Saints to 209 all out and a 136 run first innings lead. Hayden Griffith (3/19), Brett Causer (3/19) and Ed Morrish (2/59) were the main wicket takers for City.
Batting a second time, City fared a little better with the bat, but with NSW Country representative Ben Parsons (7/42) on song, they fell short by 1 run of forcing St Pats to bat again. Opener James Goldston-Morris (44) again top-scored for the Warriors, while Ed Morrish added 34.
Down the highway in Bathurst, after a delayed start City Colts continued their run chase against Bathurst City, with a place in the semi-finals potentially up for grabs.
Day 1 saw Bathurst City declare their innings closed at 8/247. Josh Knox top scored with 57 not out, while Jed Cruickshank (46), Blake Kreuzberger (44) and Jamie Cruickshank (38) also made handy contributions. Dave Henderson continued on from his wicket taking form from the previous round to take 7/78 from his marathon 34 overs. City Colts then lost opener Russell Gardner late in the day to go to stumps at 1/6.
When play was able to get underway on day 2, Clint Moxon struck early to have Colts at 4/55, but then some good partnerships between Daniel Casey (91) and youngsters Lochlan Shoemark and Cooper Stephen helped Colts to 6/164 and within sight of their target. Moxon then took 2 of the final 4 wickets to finish with 5/58 and get his team the points.
The final points table is: Cavaliers 69, Orange CYMS 59 (1.73 quotient), St Pats Old Boys 59 (1.23 quotient), Orange City 48, City Colts 43, Bathurst City 41, Rugby Union 36.
Next weekend’s semi-finals will see Cavaliers and Orange CYMS meet again at Wade Park and St Pats Old Boys host Orange City at Bathurst Sportsground.