By Peter Johnston
North’s dominance over South looks set to continue at the Alma Oval today, thanks to the Bulldog’s batting depth which looks too solid for a South side that has struggled to reach over 100 runs in an innings for the majority of the season.
In saying that, North will be looking to use this game for their top order batting to find some form before we move into the major round in a couple of weeks time.
Hack, Howard and Morgan have struggled to find good batting form this season and it is imperative that at least a couple of players find good form for them to hold premiership aspirations. Vella and Wilson rescued the day for them last week against West but they cannot rely on the middle order and tail to pull them out of trouble each week.
The Roos’ batting order looks a little stronger today with the return of Nicholas, and perhaps Reavill, but they need Matt Gray and Harry Russell to find some form with the willow before they can become competitive and worry the other sides.
The positive for South has been the development of Minhas as a middle order batsmen and they will look to him to make continued improvement until the end of the season.
North’s bowling attack will look a lot stronger when Michael Maalste returns from injury but they still appear to have enough firepower to account for the Roos today. Tom Nicole and Austin Wilson are bowling well with the new ball, and Codie Howard offers good support with his medium pacers, while Jordan Vella always worries the South side with his ‘offies’ and good change of pace.
The South bowlers will toil manfully but appear to lack the penetration to make major inroads into the North batting. But….as they say, we shall see…
Peter Johnston is the Chairman of Barrier District Cricket League.
