WESTERN PREMIER LEAGUE
Orange made a strong start to its Western Premier league campaign with a first up victory over Lachlan on Sunday.
After winning the toss, first time Orange skipper Bailey Ferguson elected to bat first. Openers Harry Grindle and Joey Coughlan made the most of that decision, taking their team to the first drinks break with all wickets intact.
However, Coughlan (45) fell to Blake Smith shortly after the break which started a mini fightback from the Lachlan team as Orange lost another 3 wickets reasonably quick to be 4/104 in the 24th over. Tom Belmonte (33) and Cohen Schubert (19) then steadied the ship before Schubert fell to the bowling of Harry Bayliss. Cameron Laird (34) then joined Belmonte for a 27-run partnership before Belmonte was bowled by Ethan Moody to leave the home team at 6/163. High Middleton was dismissed shortly afterward, before Tom Blowes (14no) joined Laird to help take the total past 200. Orange was eventually dismissed in the 46th over with 215 runs on the board with plenty of work still to do.
After the break, Orange’s opening bowling pair of Lachlan Wykes and Jarryd Seib kept things tight early before Seib struck twice in the one over, which included the wicket of in-form batter Harry Bayliss. Wykes then chimed in with the wicket of Myles Smith, leaving the visiting team in early trouble at 3/20.
Tom Blowes and Bailey Ferguson continued to apply the pressure to the Lachlan lineup and when Ferguson removed the dangerous Zac Bayliss for 6, the visitors where in disarray at 4/42. That brought former Western Zone batter and Parkes stalwart, Cameron Rosser to the crease. By the time Ferguson (2/23) and Blowes (1/30) had finished their allotted overs, Orange was well in control of the match with Lachlan 6 wickets down and the required run rate at more than 6 an over. Hugh Middleton’s catch on the boundary to dismiss Mitch Wright was a highlight that John Dyson would have been proud of.
Lachie Wykes came back into the attack to clean up the lower order on his way to figures of 4/49 from his 10 overs. Jarryd Seib finished with 2/21 off 6 overs, while Rosser showed his class remaining undefeated on 58.
Our boys now travel to Wellington this Sunday to take on Dubbo in the 2nd round of the competition. The winner of that match will secure a home final, while the loser will get a second chance when they take on the winner of the Lachlan v Bathurst match in the Semi Final on 15 December.