Forty-over cricket returns to the district this weekend with North taking on West in the match of the day at Jubilee Oval.
The Bulldogs are going from strength to strength at the moment and they would be buoyed by the fact that skipper Tobias Hack was able to find top form with the bat at this week’s SA Country Championship played in Adelaide where he was able to peel off a century in less than 50 balls after experiencing a lean first half of the local season.
Ben Jurd came back to field a little at the Carnival but he is well on track to set a local record for runs scored in a season if he can repeat his first half efforts.
Austin Wilson and Jordan Vella are talented all-rounders and provide the Bulldogs with great flexibility with both bat and ball. The Bulldogs though, will be sweating on the fitness of pace bowler Michael Maalste who missed the Carnival due to muscle soreness. Chase Johnson may need to step up to the plate today and fill the void in the pace department if Maalste does not front.
West are an enigma at the moment. Going for a threepeat of Premierships they look a shadow of the side that has won the past two. I am hesitant to write them off but their form against Central last week was very poor.
There has been no consistency in their batting this season, with the Attard Brothers making a few good scores and Peter Christos chiming in with the occasional good effort. Max Everuss, West’s most reliable batsmen for the past two seasons cannot buy a run this season. It is hard to know where West are going to find the personnel to set North a competitive score to chase.
Best hope for West rests on the broad shoulders of opening bowler Laurence Hebbard. He will need to make quick inroads into the North top order and get great support from Peter Christo with the ball if West are to put themselves back in minor premiership contention. I cannot see this happening and North should entrench themselves at the top of the BDCL Musicians Club ladder.
