Bathurst Orange Inter District Cricket: St Pat's Old Boys prepare for grand final clash against Orange City

But now the sun is set to shine for St Pat's Old Boys in this weekend's BOIDC grand final bid against Orange City at the Sportsground.

COVID-19 and rainy weather have stood between Pat's and grand finals in recent times but with neither of those set to play a role this Saturday and Sunday the Saints have a chance to strut their stuff.

Leading the charge for the blue and white are the sibling combination of Bailey and Cooper Brien with the bat and opening bowler Mitch Taylor.

The Brien boys have been in great form this season, with Bailey scoring at an average of 36 and Cooper scoring a century in his recent ISA Cricket grand final with Saint Stanislaus' College.

Neither had the chance to get going in their rained out match against Orange City earlier this season (Bailey out for 13 and Cooper stranded on 1 not out) and they're keen for another shot at the defending champions.

"It should be a really good game. Orange City have some great players in Ed Morrish and Blake Weymouth and their bowling unit is very handy too," Bailey Brien said.

"Coming down to Bathurst this time I feel will be a bit more of a challenge for them so that's something that should play to our advantage so we'll so how it pans out.

"The last game against them got rained out at Wade Park but that was two different weeks with two different pitches. They got to bat in the sunshine and we had to bat in the rain. This time's going to be an interesting contest."

"My batting is feeling pretty good at the moment so hopefully I can continue that run of form into the weekend," Cooper Brien said.

"It's a strong team we've got named for the grand final - probably one of our strongest for the year - so hopefully it helps us come away with the goods."

Taylor was the best of the St Pat's bowlers in the regular season meeting with Orange City, ending up with 3-38 from his 18 overs.

He comes into the grand final with 15 wickets in his past four games, plus the rare achievement of back-to-back five wicket hauls.

His consistency with the ball, alongside fellow opener Jack Goodsell, has been making life difficult of opponents' top order batsmen.

"I've got myself into a routine and I don't change it. I think that's really all there is to it," he said.

"I really like playing against Orange City. I think It's become a really good rivalry."

The minor premier Saints earned direct passage through to the grand final after their major semi-final against Orange City was washed out.

The grand final at the Sportsground starts from 1pm on Saturday and day two will resume 11am on Sunday.

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