Orange City have bowed out of the 23-24 premiership race following their defeat at the hands of St Pats Old Boys in the Elimination Final played over the weekend.
After winning the toss and batting at Bathurst Sportsground, St Pats recovered from the early loss of opener Andrew Brown with Bailey Brien and Adam Ryan adding 50 for the second wicket to take the score to 70. A double strike from Ed Morrish removed Ryan and then Connor Slattery leaving Saints momentarily on the back foot, before Brien and Hugh Parsons combined to push their total to 150 before Brien was dismissed for 81. Parsons continued his innings on to 65 before he was the 7th batter out with the score at 209, with a late flurry from Derryn Clayton (31 off 23 deliveries) helping St Pats Old Boys to 254.
Ed Morrish was the pick of the Orange City bowlers taking 4/54 from his 16 overs, while Hayden Griffith picked up 3/39.
Orange City started their run chase late on day 1, finishing the day with 10 wickets intact and 16 runs knocked off in their chase.
Sunday started well for the home team with Brendon Cutmore removing Brett Causer with the first ball of the day. Dan Burchmore then joined James Goldston-Morris in the middle and the pair proceeded to add 53 to their team's total before Percy Raveneau removed Burchmore. Raveneau was at it again half an hour later, removing Goldston-Morris for 55 just as City were starting to build into another partnership. Ed Morrish then joined Shaun Grenfell at the crease but tight bowling from Raveneau and Bailey Brien restricted the run flow until Grenfell's wicket fell with the score at 4/98.
Ben Sennett got in on the act a short while later to remove Shaun Churchill as City teetered at 5/112 before Morrish was joined at the crease by Ryan Manning. The pair added another 36 to the team total to give City hope, however the loss of Manning’s wicket spelt the beginning of the end for Orange City. Wickets proceeded to tumble as player of the match Hugh Parsons worked his way through their middle and lower order, the Warriors eventually all out for 178. Parsons finished with 5/51 off 22.5 overs, while Percy Raveneau showed all of his experience to finish with 3/27 from his 20 overs.
At Wade Park, Cavaliers became the first team through to this season’s grand final following their win over Orange CYMS in the Qualifying Final.
CYMS batted first after winning the toss and made a solid start to their innings with a 66 run partnership between Will Oldham and Joey Coughlan before Kyle Buckley removed Oldham for 34. Charlie Greer then removed Coughlan for 31 in the next over, before both bowlers struck again in quick time removing Sammy Austin and Charlie Tink to have CYMS reeling at 4/69. Tom Belmonte and Rory Daburger tried to stem the flow of wickets, but when both were dismissed, CYMS were struggling at 6/104. The Cavaliers bowlers continued to take regular wickets and it was left to a 48 run stand for the final wicket between Matt Burgess (33 no) and Lachie Wykes to help the green and golds to 178. For Cavaliers, Josh Ward finished with 3/27 while Kyle Buckley and Charlie Greer picked up two each.
With 21 overs left in the day, Cavaliers openers John Warrington and Rory Kalnins saw their team to stumps at 0/76.
Day two brought about a change in fortunes for Orange CYMS as Lachlan Wykes struck twice in the first over, removing Warrington for 40 and then skipper Matt Corben 2 balls later. Wykes was again in on the action next over when he caught Kalnins off Ben Orme's bowling, leaving Cavaliers at 3/80 and the CYMS bowlers with their tails up. Wykes continued to be in the thick of the action when he removed Cam Laird and then Max Powell a short while later, leaving the minor premiers at 5/108 and still 70 runs behind CYMS’ first innings total. Batting at number 5, player of the match, Bailey Ferguson steadied the ship, firstly adding 41 in a partnership with Hugh Middleton and then 85 with Tom Blowes, before he was dismissed for 112 and his team safely past CYMS' total. Cavaliers were bowled out a short time later for 253 with a 75 run first innings lead. Lachlan Wykes was the pick of the CYMS bowlers with 4/29 off his 11 overs, while Joey Coughlan bagged 3 late wickets to finish with 3/21.
With 49 overs still left in the days play and nothing to lose, CYMS batted a second time in pursuit of an unlikely outright win. In the chase for quick runs, Joey Coughlan was run out early, but that bough the CYMS skipper, Tom Belmonte to the crease, who proceeded to belt a 44-ball century before being dismissed 2 balls later for 104. His innings included 10 sixes and 4 fours. Will Oldham chipped in with 28 as CYMS closed their second innings at 5/178, an overall lead of 103 and with 28 overs left in the day to take the 10 wickets needed for victory. Some no-nonsense batting from the Cavaliers top order ensured their direct route to the grand final before stumps were pulled early with Cavaliers 1/54 and John Warrington unbeaten on 33.
Orange CYMS now host St Pats Old Boys in next weekend’s preliminary final at Wade Park, with the winner going on to play Cavaliers in the Grand Final the following weekend.