MITCHELL Cricket Council came close to taking out all three of their Western Zone Cricket Inter Council contests on Sunday and there were several Bathurst players who featured prominently in the team’s season openers.
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Mitchell’s under 12s and 14s proved too good for their Lachlan counterparts while the 16s went down by four wickets in the Cowra round of matches.
It was a great display of maturity by the Mitchell 12s who find themselves in dire trouble early with the bat at 3-4.
The fourth wicket partnership between Bathurst’s Cooper Stephen (48) and Orange’s Hugh Taylor (69) saved the visitors’ innings.
Together they produced a century stand and helped Mitchell find their way to 8-182 at the conclusion of their 40 overs.
The hosts found just 99 in reply after a promising start to their innings.
Lachlan opener Jack Milne (32) fought hard while the top order fell away but Mitchell’s bowling pressure was too much.
Stephen backed up his performance with the bat to take three wickets.
Mitchell coach Garth Dean was pleased to see Stephen and Taylor play a sensible and patient partnership.
“We didn’t start off too well. A lot of the discussion with the kids was about batting the overs out, and I said if we lose early wickets then you’ve got to find a way to build a partnership and get us into the second half of the innings," he said.
“Within five minutes of having that talk we were 3-4, but then it panned out that way with a partnership of 104 between Hugh and Cooper. That got us back on track.
“It could easily have gone sour and we could have been all out for 60 with a start like that. They climbed out of it and posted a very good score for under 12s, because the pitch was holding up a bit.”
Dean said the score wasn’t an accurate reflection of Lachlan’s quality.
“Murray Staines got our first wicket, with a catch at slip, then after that the bowling was very steady. They were always behind the mark from that point and the pressure starting to build on them chasing five an over.”
Lachlan were very good. Their opening bats were strong and got off to a quick start.
- Garth Dean
The Mitchell under 14s had an eight wicket win over Lachlan when they chased down the target of 116.
Mitchell’s 16s were all out for 82 and were starting down the barrel of a big defeat when Lachlan were 0-48 in response.
The visitors gave themselves a chance of an unlikely victory when they claimed four wickets for just seven more runs but Lachlan steadied themselves to prevent the Mitchell clean sweep.
Bathurst will play host to the next round of under 12s, 14s and 16s Western Zone Inter Council contests when Mitchell take on Macquarie for the first time this season.