WITH just five rounds to go before finals get under way, every match will take on extra importance for Wandella as they look to maintain their place as one of the SHDCA’s leading premiership contenders.
The same can be said for Woorinen, who will take on the Bombers at Riverside Park on Saturday, with a loss for either side to have major ramifications.
For Wandella, who sit just half a game clear in fourth spot on the ladder, a loss could potentially drop them from the top four with the bye awaiting next weekend.
It is a similar scenario for the Tigers, who despite sitting a game and a half clear, know that any defeat could very quickly drop them back into the chasing pack.
“We have a big few weeks ahead for us,” Woorinen captain Dean Morpeth told The Guardian this week.
“We have three games against very good opponents and then the bye, so we need to bank a few wins before the bye.
“We’re nine points clear in second, so we feel like if we can have a good fortnight against Wandella and Nyah (District) we’ll go into that last little burst in a strong position.
“The flip side of that is if we drop both games, then we could be fifth or sixth on the ladder, so it’s a really important two weeks for us.”
It will be a similarly important occasion for Wandella, who not only will be seeking to bank the six points, but also rebound with the bat after a disastrous collapse that cost them victory against St Mary’s Tyntynder a fortnight ago.
Having bowled the Bulldogs out for 123, the Bombers then capitulated to be dismissed for their lowest total this season (59).
It was a performance that frustrated Wandella captain Ryan Barnes, who was this week expecting a much more polished display with the bat.
“We’ve been working pretty hard on our batting at training, so we’ll see how we go, but we need to improve, it’s as simple as that,” Barnes said.
“Our last game was disappointing (against St Mary’s Tyntynder) the other week, it was a bit of a kick in the ass to be blunt.
“The improvement has to come from our boys with the bat, our top seven made 40-odd (47) between them and ‘Moorey’ (Peter Moore) made 30 of them.
“I thought we did pretty well to bowl them out for 123, but our effort with the bat was really poor and it was an effort that we can’t repeat.”
While the Bombers are expected to have an unchanged line-up, Woorinen will welcome back batsman Mitchell Uhlhorn, who missed the Tigers’ 45-run loss to Nyah District in last Saturday’s Kookaburra Cup grand final.
Although Woorinen are clearly one of the form teams of the SHDCA this season, Morpeth was quick to point out that his team has plenty of improvement to do following last weekend’s defeat, with the match seen as the perfect learning experience for his young squad.
“I don’t feel we did too much wrong, I thought our bowling was pretty good and we controlled the first half of the game really well,” Morpeth said.
“Even at the back end of their innings with our fourth and fifth bowlers, I felt that was as good as we could have hoped for with the ball.
“I felt we had some momentum with the bat, but we just learnt how good you have to be to be a premiership team with bowling to a field and hitting your length.
“It a was a big learning experience for our boys and that’s why we were there, just to understand the standard that you need to reach in big games and hopefully we can take some of those lessons into Saturday’s game.”
Morpeth, who is coming off a 60-ball century in his last red-ball match against Ultima TUF, and Guri Singh, who took nine wickets in an innings in the same match, will be the key players with bat and ball for the Tigers, along with the hard-hitting Darren Rushton and Cooper Fox.
Wandella, on the other hand, will be hoping for big games from all-rounder Peter Moore, wicketkeeper-batsman Flynn McKnight, who has shown glimpses of his talent at the top of the order this season, and young quick Laing Waddingham.
