ORANGE FALLS AGONISINGLY SHORT IN THE WESTERN ZONE CUP FINAL

Orange has fallen just short in their quest to win the Western Zone Cup competition, losing the Final to Lachlan by 1 wicket in a thrilling match at Riawena Oval on Sunday.

After winning the toss and batting, our innings didn’t get off to a great start with Aditya Adey back in the pavilion early. Young Cavaliers pair, Toby Middleton and Oli Jarick pushed the score to 26 before Jarick was bowled by Tom Moore for 13. Captain Rory Daburger then joined with Middleton to take the score to 55, but when Middleton was dismissed in the 14th over, Lachlan would have felt they had the upper hand.

A partnership of 59 runs between Daburger and Cohen Schubert put our innings back on track, but when Schubert and Josh Dawson fell in quick succession, we looked to be in a spot of trouble at 5/114. Walter Prowse and Rory Daburger revived our innings with another solid partnership, but the loss of several wickets we were once again in trouble at 9/162 and in danger of not batting out their overs.

As it was, all we needed was our injured fast bowler, Lachie Wykes and late inclusion, Hugh Middleton, to combine for an 80 run partnership for the last wicket to push our score to 242. Wykes cleared the pickets 4 times on his way to 52 not out from only 20 balls while Middleton scored 37 from his 26 deliveries.

After a wonderful lunch provided by Karen Ferguson, we got off to a good start with the ball when Matt Burgess took 2 wickets in his 2nd over to have the visitors 2/4. Hayden Griffith then removed round 3 centurion Harry Bayliss and then brother Zac in the space of a few overs to have Lachlan 4/38 in the 11th over.

Parkes stalwart, Cameron Rosser and Ryan Dunford looked to build a partnership to get the Lachlan innings back on track, but when Aditya Adey bowled Dunford in the second overs after drinks, our team appeared to have their nose in front with Lachlan now 5/76. The next partnership between Rosser and Ewan Moody was crucial for Lachlan as it yielded 90 runs and put their chase right back on track. However, when Rosser fell to the bowling of Toby Middleton for 56, Lachlan still needed 77 runs but with only 4 wickets left.

With 17 overs still remaining, Moody continued to his own half century before he was unluckily run out for 52, after a straight drive from Jock Yelland was touched by bowler Toby Middleton and onto the stumps with Moody backing up too far and out of his crease. Lachlan still needed 46 runs to win, and now only 3 wickets in hand.

Yelland and Ray Parmar added another 23 runs to the score before Middleton clean bowled Yelland to set up an exciting finish, and when Tom Moore was caught off Middleton’s bowling, Lachlan were still 6 runs behind our score with the last pair at the crease. Last man in and earlier Lachlan bowling hero, Brad Parker saw out the remainder of Middleton’s over before Parmar tied the scores with a six in the next over followed by a single off the very next ball to secure victory for his team.

Best for our team with the bat were Lachie Wykes (52no), Rory Daburger (50), Cohen Schubert (42), Hugh Middleton (37) and Toby Middleton (19). With the ball, Toby Middleton took 3/35 from his 8 overs, with Matt Burgess (2/16), Hayden Griffith (2/43) and Aditya Adey (1/51) the other wicket takers.