Coolah produced a surprise result on Sunday as it hammered first placed Goolma by 131 runs.
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After winning the toss, Coolah chose to bat first as fans were treated to a whopper day from opener Shaun Burgess (70).
Burgess was looking to hit his eighth boundary when Ant Harris (1/56) sent him packing but Coolah already stood at 6-111.
Fast forward to the 49th over and Coolah was all out for 211 after healthy contributions from John Esdaile (22) and Craig Schnieder (32).
Ant Harris and Jason Warner (1/43) gave up almost 100 runs between them as well as contributing to the 35 sundries that were added to Coolah’s total.
After the break, Goolma would have backed itself to get the result considering its made a habit of winning since the early stages of the season.
However, there was only one way to describe Goolma’s innings with the bat – disastrous.
It’s important to note however that Goolma had a host of players unavailable due to Gulgong’s T20 match against Bathurst, putting Coolah in pole position.
The ladder leaders were all out for 80 after just 30 overs as Ant Harris (21) was the only player to produce over 20 as he made up for his poor day with the ball.
John Esdaile (3/14) and Kyle Baldwin (3/19) were a couple of man of the match candidates as the pair added to their first innings run with three wickets each.
The result sees Coolah keep its narrow post-season hopes alive while Goolma sits eight points clear of Gulgong RSL at the top.
Centennial clubs Gulgong RSL
Centennial inched closer to second position on Sunday with a 96 run triumph against Gulgong RSL.
Centennial won the toss and batted out its 50 overs to start the day as Steve Clark (53) and Tom James (43) stood out for the third-placed side.
Those knocks were timely for Centennial as it was 4-68 and struggling before them.
Geoff Lee’s (4/32) fingerprints were all over Gulgong RSL’s first innings as he took four scalps.
After the break, Gulgong RSL needed a strong innings to come close to the formidable total but got off to a 5-26 horror show as Steve Clark (3/7) channeled his inner Superman with five overs of brilliance.
Anthony Furney (1/22) was also clinical as he bowled three maidens in five overs.
Gulgong RSL only just holds its second position while Centennial sits just two points behind.
Jake Humphreys
Sports nut at the Central Western Daily.
Sports nut at the Central Western Daily.
