ST Mary’s Tyntynder will head into next week’s top-of-the-table match against Nyah District in high spirits after winning outright against Swan Hill at the weekend.
The Saints were simply a class above as the Swans regressed to the form they had shown the previous couple of seasons.
With the Saints in peak form and the Demons fresh off the bye, the biggest match of the 2022-23 season so far is set to be an absolute belter. It is near impossible to pick who is in the better form.
A man that is sure to make the Demons nervous is star all-rounder Corey Daniels.
Daniels flogged the Swans attack to all parts on Saturday as he raced to a run-a-ball 126 not out.
It is the highest score of the SHDCA season so far and only the second century.
Daniels’ power-hitting capabilities are well known, but his running between the wickets was a standout feature in an innings that included only nine fours.
The Swans will be left ruing missed opportunities, with grassed chances littering their time in the field.
Both Daniels and Bailey Codling (58) gave opportunities to the Swans, who couldn’t seize the moment .
The news couldn’t get any worse for the Swans all-rounder Andrew Clark, who popped his shoulder out early in the day.
It doesn’t look good for the fast bowler, and with the Swans unable to get their best 11 on the park since Christmas, it could be a long final month of the season.
The loss of Clark meant the Saints required only nine wickets, and the ladder leaders took full advantage of a mentally shot Swans outfit, rolling them cheaply for 60 and 55 inside 50 overs.
Saints skipper Nathaniel Holmes Brown was superb in the second Swans innings, taking 7/28.
Ultima TUF v Wandella
WANDELLA recorded a massive victory in the context of their season, defeating top-four rivals Ultima TUF by 63 runs on their home deck.
It leaves the Bombers as the clear standout from the pack chasing the Saints and Demons.
With the Swans to face this week, the Bombers are peaking at the right time.
Young star Bohden McKnight has been superb all season with the ball and again delivered on Saturday, taking 3/25, but he showed he could do the job with the willow as well, making a patient and smart 44 as wickets fell around him.
With Wandella 5/45, Daniel Higgs (29) and Ethan McKnight (28) partnered with McKnight to ensure the Bombers posted a good total of 9/161.
It was a sign of maturity from a side that relied on skipper Gregory Dickson to make the bulk of their runs before Christmas.
However, with the gun bat only making five, nobody would have been more pleased than Dickson to see others taking up the mantle in the run to the finals.
In reply, the Roos never got close, as the aforementioned McKnight and Ryan Barnes (3/19) did the bulk of the damage.
After a promising start to the season following Christmas, the Roos have now lost comfortably the past two weeks but should still make finals, sitting one win clear of fifth-placed RSL on the table.
It sets up a huge finals-shaping contest against the Blues next week.
Woorinen v RSL
THE match between the Tigers and Blues was washed out after Woorinen copped the worst of the rain storms that battered the region on Thursday and Friday last week.
