AT 3-61 in their pursuit of 216 City Colts could have easily seen their winning hopes fade away with the quick loss of a few more wickets in Saturday's Bathurst Orange Inter District Cricket opening round game.
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Enter Dan Casey and Russ Gardner.
Casey (92 not out) and Gardner (88 not out) put on an unbeaten 156-run stand at Loco Oval to deliver their side a seven wicket victory over Centrals.
It was a moment of leading by example from Colts skipper Gardner and his vice-captain Casey, who look to be in great touch early in the season.
The game was a lost opportunity for Centrals, who had put on a competitive total thanks to first century of the season from Angus Norton (106).
Norton's explosive innings featured seven sixes.
But the combined 26 boundaries and 175 deliveries faced between Casey and Gardner got the hosts out of a dangerous situation.
Gardner said it was a very reachable target but it required plenty of application.
"We'd lost a couple of early wickets so Dan and I steadily built it back up," he said.
"It was a good partnership and the outfield played pretty quick, so we just had to work the ball around and find the gaps. If you could find the gaps then it was probably going to the boundary.
"Since it was the first game it took a while for our heads and feet going but once we'd faced a couple of balls each we felt pretty set.
"We were a little rusty in the field, being the first game, so that's something that we can improve on."
Casey also picked up a pair of wickets earlier in the day (2-52) while Cooper Stephen (2-38) was the
Centrals had plenty of wickets in hand but, outside of Norton, struggled to get going as they finished their 40 overs at 5-216.
Graeme Judge, 39, was the next best of the Centrals batters while Aaron Chaseling had 2-40.
It was also a winning start to the season for Bathurst City, who claimed a 56 run win over Rugby Union.
Bowlers dominated the contest at Morse Park 1, with Redbacks' Marcus Turnbull finishing with 2-1 from his 3.5 overs and three of his teammates also coming away with two wickets.
City's Cohen Schubert (35) was the top scorer for the match while Rugby's Flynn Taylor (4-35) had the best bowling figures.
St Pat's Old Boys had a tough start to their season as they went down by 74 runs to defending champions Cavaliers at Riawena Oval.
Cavs' Matt Corben (79) and Cameron Laird (68) did the damage with the bat to get their team to 8-260, Saints' Ben Parsons (3-48) was the best of his side's bowling attack.
Bailey Ferguson (3-36) and Hugh Middleton (3-15) were on fire with the ball for the hosts while Bailey Brien top scored in the run chase for Pat's with 49.
Orange City thumped CYMS by seven wickets, with Jarryd Seib's 5-20 from seven overs the major highlight at Wade Park.
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