It was a huge gamble.
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Going into Saturday’s clash against RSL-Whitney Cup powerhouse CYMS, Rugby’s leadership group knew they needed to try something dramatic.
After bowling the Cougars out for 155 – courtesy of an outstanding performance from youngster Ben Rosenbaum (4-28) – Rugby sent in trusted opener Ben Wheeler to lead their reply.
But alongside him was not Glenn Shepherd or Jacob Hill, but Jacob Bruce, who hasn’t batted higher than seven in the 2018-19 season.
It was a bet that paid dividends.
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Bruce smashed 52 at the top of the order and combined with Hill (41) for a second wicket partnership of 103.
“We looked at it like ‘well, if it doesn’t pay off, we’re still in the same position’,” Rugby all-rounder Aidan Bennewith said.
“We haven’t been going really good at the top of the order … Ben Strachan has been getting wickets for fun so we thought ‘if we minimised his wickets, we were going to a long way to winning the match’.
“We gave it a crack and it couldn’t have paid off any better.”
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Rugby, who looked set to bowl CYMS out for about 120 before the Cougars’ tail wagged.
Rosenbaum dismissed openers Stuart Naden (11) and Tom Coady (bowled, 9), as well as Brock Larance (1) in quick succession before Ben Knaggs (41) pulled out a true captain’s knock in an attempt to drag CYMS’ innings back on track.
But no one was able to stay with him for any length of time, the best efforts coming from Tom Nelson (7) for a 29-run partnership and Jake Settree (15) for 37.
It looked all over when Knaggs fell to a toiling Baye Wallace (1-36), but Gilbert Chaseling (16) and Ben O’Donnell (17) combined for a handy 33 to extend CYMS’ total to 155.
Bennewith said Rosenbaum should have finished with five-for, but Nick Karydis let one catch slip.
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“Ben’s only been playing first grade this season and he’s going really well for us,” Bennewith said.
“He opened the bowling and got three of their best batsmen out in the first 10 overs and that set it up for our second line bowlers to come in and do the job for us.”
By the time Bruce and Hill brought up the 100 in the 25th over, Bennewith said “we looked pretty well in control”.
The gamble paid off as Strachan only managed 1-28 – a far cry from his average of 16.3, and season best figures of 6-59 against Rugby back in round two.
But Bennewith paid tribute to the competition’s third most prolific bowler, admitting he was “unlucky” to have “troubled the batters without getting the wickets”.
He said the all-round team performance “felt like it’s been coming for a while”.
“I think, mathematically, we [Rugby and Macquarie] can’t make it but it’s just good to put in a good performance against those top three sides [CYMS, RSL Colts and Newtown] and show we can match it with them when we play to our ability,” Bennewith said.
“We’ve got about 80 per cent of our players under 21, so it’s great for them to get that feeling back in the camp.
Here’s hoping, coming back into the last three two-dayers of the season, we can put some more good performances on the board and build for next season.”
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