WHILE a post-Christmas resurgence has catapulted St. Mary’s-Tyntynder back into the SHDCA finals race, the perennial finalists will need to continue their winning form when they host fourth placed Barham-Koondrook at the Ken Harrison Reserve this Saturday afternoon.
Having lost seven of their first eight games, the Bulldogs have returned to form with strong wins over Wandella and Woorinen in their only two red ball matches this season and find themselves just two games outside the top four.
A win on Saturday would see that gap reduced to just one, which would simultaneously send a shudder through the remainder of the competition, with the sleeping giants officially awoken from their early season slumber.
A loss on the other hand would make it almost impossible for St. Mary’s-Tyntynder to play finals, with that fact not lost on Bulldogs captain Nathaniel Holmes-Brown in the lead up to this weekend’s big match.
“We know we didn’t get the best start to the season, but I think we’ve all been looking forward to getting into the red ball cricket when we knew we’d get a few of the players back into our side that we’ve relied upon heavily over the past few years,” Holmes-Brown told The Guardian this week.
“We certainly know what’s in front of us, but at the same time we’re backing ourselves in to keep pressing for a top four spot.
“This weekend (against Barham-Koondrook) will almost be our biggest test in terms of our season so far, but if we can get over the top of them then our season is well and truly alive – if we don’t, then it will make our season a bit harder.
“Needing to win just simplifies everything, we don’t have to overcomplicate things, it’s a simple game anyway and we’ll just back our batters in to make runs and back our bowling attack in to restrict our opposition to a chaseable score.”
The loss of off-spinner Dom Violi will be offset by the return of all-rounder Corey Daniels, who will play his second match of the season following the Bulldogs 41-run win over Woorinen three weeks ago.
Daniels and fellow all-rounder Charlie King have had a significant impact on St. Mary’s-Tyntynder’s change in fortunes, with Daniels taking 2-9 against the Tigers in his only match and King averaging 48 from three innings since his return to the side.
The biggest transformation for the Bulldogs is with the ball, with Daniels and King joining forces with Holmes-Brown (16 wickets) and Robin Sebastian (14 wickets) to form one of the leagues most potent bowling attacks, according to Barham-Koondrook co-captain Jayden Hall.
“Their opening bowlers in (Robin) Sebastian and (Nathaniel) Holmes-Brown are as good as it gets in this competition, so we’ll need to pay them a lot of respect, especially in this format of the game where they can bowl as many overs as they want,” Hall said.
“We haven’t seen Corey (Daniels) before, but we’ve heard a lot about him and we know he’s a talented cricketer also.
“We know how good they (St. Mary’s-Tyntynder) are at their best, but by the same token we’re more concerned about what we do and how we go about it than them.
“I’m confident in our ability at our best, but that’s also been our issue at times this season in that there’s been a gap between our best and our worst.
“I think the past few weeks have shown that we’re starting to close that gap and we’re playing a bit more consistent cricket and it’s been refreshing to see some of the guys who were struggling a little bit prior to Christmas have started the new year in good form.”
Having beaten Ultima-TUF in a hard-fought contest last weekend, the Raiders will be strengthened by the return of co-captain Garry Lolicato, who with 244 runs and 18 wickets to his name, is easily among the SHDCA’s leading all-rounders.
While Lolicato is a sure to be the Bulldogs number one target, they will also need to closely watch Warren Lolicato and Chameera Akurugoda, with the latter coming off a four wicket performance in Barham-Koondrook’s win over the Roodogs last Saturday.
