The best Central side stood up against West at the Jubilee Oval last week but whether they can repeat that effort today against South at the Alma Oval remains to be seen.
The Magpies’ consistency has been about as good as that of today’s opposition but, in fairness to South, much of their form has been dictated by availability of key personnel.
Central rely heavily on Jared Paull and Sheldon Hall for the bulk of their runs, with some support from junior Nick Devoy. The South bowling looks a lot better on paper today with Shaun Wilson making his debut for the Southerners and Azam and Nick Christos returning to the side. They may now have enough depth in their attack to worry the Magpie’s batting.
South’s batting has been all over the place again this season. When their better players have been available they have been capable of stringing together scores in triple digits and this would be competitive against Central in this game.
The Roos probably have their best batting line-up for the season and if they perform to their best they could give the Magpies a run for their money. Good to see Lachy Erskine back in cricket and playing against his old side. Smith, Nicholas, Christos and Sebastian carry the hopes of the South supporters with the bat.
Central has lacked penetration in their bowling up until last week when Paull and Turley turned that around. David O’Mally has been the Magpie’s most consistent with the ball for most of the season but Central seem to struggle for further options.
Central, based on their form over the past few seasons, should win this game. I sense however, that South probably have their best side for quite a while today and with an injection of a few new players they may be pumped for an upset.
I must pick Central on disclosed form but the West Indies have set the tone in the last week and it could be a day for another major upset, but this time locally.
