THE cool head of all-rounder Chris Albon and some lusty hitting from Scott Traves ensured Rugby Union won another tense Bathurst District Cricket Association first grade contest on Saturday. Rugby (4-169) passed All Saints’ 9-167 in the final over of the one-day clash at Morse Park 1. The two teams had contrasting first 20 overs after All Saints won the toss and batted.
Peter Francis’ men were 6-77 after 20 overs while Rugby (3-62) made sure they had wickets in hand when needing 106 runs from the last 15 overs. Traves smashed three sixes in his 36 while the patient Albon crafted an unbeaten 60. The experienced pair came together with Rugby at 3-61 and put together a 75-run fourth wicket stand.
Albon, who had already claimed 4-23 from eight overs with the ball, and Matt Lawson (10 not out) then saw Rugby home in the final over of the clash. The victory made it a more satisfying weekend for Rugby, who lost their Royal Hotel Clash against Kinross on Friday night. Rugby stand-in skipper Scott Johnston was pleased with his side’s second close BDCA win after beating Oxford in round one back on October 6.
Johnston said Rugby’s “woeful” fielding probably stopped them from limiting All Saints to around 145. However, the bowling effort from the Bulldogs was excellent on a surface Johnston rated as a “220 to 230 [run]” pitch. “In the end it was a very good win .
.. it’s pleasing to have won our first two matches and still have plenty of improvement in us,” Johnston said.
“We got off to a pretty steady start and maybe we would have preferred to have a few more runs [than 3-63] at drinks, but at the end of the day we did it pretty well. We definitely haven’t played our best cricket.” Fielding and rotation of the strike when batting are two main areas the Bulldogs can improve, Johnston said.
However, Johnston said All Saints’ captain Peter Francis (1-18 from eight overs) bowled a strong new-ball spell in tandem with new quick Dave Eddy (1-25 from eight overs). Scoring was not easy early on for Rugby openers Imran Qureshi (22) and Damian Hanrahan (16). With bat All Saints innings was punctuated by starts with six batsmen scoring between 17 and 30.
Evan Jones (30 not out) came to the crease with his side 6-77 and batted until the end in an important knock. Captain Francis hit a quick fire 30 and David Craig (25) also performed well as the lower order got All Saints out of early trouble. Rugby’s bowling attack was consistent with Lawson (2-35 from six overs), impressive leg-spinner Adrian Carey (1-26 from eight overs), Ben George (1-32 from seven overs) and Traves (1-37 from seven overs) all effective.
Spinner Chris Gavin (2-25 from six overs) was also good with ball for All Saints.
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