Cricket: Narrabri Pink Slugs claim gargantuan victory over Gwydir in opening Connolly Cup game

The Narrabri Pink Slugs captain certainly did not expect that it would be a completely unique day in his sporting career.

After winning the toss in the first round of the Connolly Cup, Conroy elected to bat first on a wicket which he did not expect to produce a bevy of runs - or, as he put it: "It's a pitch you expect when there's no permanent curator."

When Gwydir took two early wickets, it looked as though it might be a tough day out for the batters, until young Bernard O'Connor joined opener Hamish Duncan at the wicket.

"[Bernard] displayed great intent," Conroy said.

"Aggression to start his innings off and then he finessed the ball around the park when the field spread out. It was a batting masterclass."

O'Connor, who finished high school last year, was eventually dismissed for 114. It was his first century in senior representative cricket, which Conroy said was mightily impressive given his youth.

He was ably supported by Duncan (54) and Greg Melton (54), who both rotated the strike regularly to ensure O'Connor faced as many balls as possible from the 2022/23 champions.

Those three, along with Jakeb Nipperess' quickfire 23 in the closing overs, saw Narrabri through to a colossal total of 6-302.

At the outset of the game, Conroy would have been happy with anything over 260, which he felt was a safe target on a tricky wicket.

But little did he know that he would barely break a sweat, as the second innings took less than an hour to wrap up.

"Cooper [Brayshaw] missed his chance with the willow, but jeez he was outstanding with the leather," Conroy said.

Brayshaw hit the stumps with his first ball of the second innings, then went on to take the next four wickets in three overs. At one point, his figures were 5-0.

At that point, Gwydir was 5-3 and Dylan Smith got into the action. With no wickets for five runs from his first few overs, Smith took the remaining five wickets for no runs, which brought the visitors' innings to a close for 15 - 14 of which were scored by Tom Groth.

"Gwydir were short, so from seven or eight down, there wasn't too much in the sheds for them," Conroy said.

"It was just smart bowling, that's all it was. They just hit that corridor, hit that channel and let the cricket gods do the work."

Rather than take the opportunity to talk up his captaincy skills, Conroy said the match was one of his easiest from a leadership perspective.

"Basically, I didn't have to do anything. It made my day in the office much easier," he said.

Even now, days later, the truth of what they achieved is still sinking in for Conroy.

He is not sure what, if any, records were set, but their dominant 287-run victory over the reigning Connolly Cup champions has given the Pink Slugs a massive boost of confidence.

"I'm still thinking it's a dream, to be honest," he said with a chuckle.

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