
On August 24, 1973, the Borenore and Methodist Cricket Clubs changed forever.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
During the meeting on that date, Mr Stan Wayling put forward a motion to merge both clubs, with a new identity naming the club Orange Centrals Cricket Club.
From there, the red and white of Centrals was born.
On Saturday May 30, the club will celebrate its half century at Orange Ex-Services Club.
It'll be an occasion to bring the club's old boys and girls back to celebrate the good times.
So when looking back, what season does Centrals president Kyle Nonnenmacher rate as the best?
There's too many to pick from.
However, the early 2010s is right up there.
"That era with Adam Shepherd ... they got a roll on there," Nonnenmacher said.
In 2010-11 and 2011-12, Centrals went back-to-back in the Orange District Cricket Association first grade competition.
The 2012 grand final was a dominant result with Centrals hitting 7/309 in the first innings.
For Cavaliers, the high score was too much to handle, with Dan Sandford taking 6/53 to bowl them out for 178.
For the president personally, captaining a competition-winning second grade side in 2019 was a highlight.
However, the club's progress six years ago was probably its biggest accomplishment.
"The best was about six years ago when Centrals brought back juniors," Nonnenmacher said.
"For 20 years Centrals had no juniors, this year we have about 70 juniors on the books and 10 have played grade.
"Getting juniors back was probably the biggest thing for our future otherwise we would've have had a club in five years. It helps us stay sustainable moving forward and try to be competitive - that'll take time."
Throughout all its history, Centrals has won 29 premierships. Nine of those came in Colts, two in fourth grade, five in third grade, five in second grade and one in Bonnor Cup (2002/03).
The seven premierships in first grade were in 1975-76, 1976-77, 1979-80, 1982-83, 1987-88, 2010-11 and 2011-12.
Brian Sawyer (1976-77), Lindsay Fardell (1983-84), Paul McMahon (1986-87), Cliff Shepherd (1987-88) and Adam Shepherd (1999-2000) are the five cricketers from Centrals to win Orange District Cricket Association cricketer of the year.
Centrals' 50th year celebrations will merge with the club's presentation night with life members to be inducted.
Centrals current list of life members is Merv Wilke, Stan Wayling, Les Brown, Ron Gander, Terry Begnell, Cliff Shepherd, Peter Iffland, Jeanette Davis, John Davis, Barry Trimmer and Adam Shepherd.
The event starts at 6pm and will be held at Orange Ex-Services Club with tickets $76 a head that can be bought via Centrals Cricket Club Facebook page or 123tix.com.au.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on the Central Western Daily website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. Sign up for a subscription here.

