Sport
5 January, 2023
Beaufort take on Colts after torrid start to the season
Beaufort will be hoping for a change of luck when they host Colts Phelans to open their two-day season tomorrow afternoon. It’s been a torrid season to this point for the Crows, having been unable to play a single game on their home turf due to...
Beaufort will be hoping for a change of luck when they host Colts Phelans to open their two-day season tomorrow afternoon.
It’s been a torrid season to this point for the Crows, having been unable to play a single game on their home turf due to the devastating amount of rain during spring.
However, with the weather improving in recent weeks, they’ll now look to leverage three successive home games into a good start to their two-day campaign.
Standing in their way between the Crows and that good start they are desperate for is Colts Phelans, who themselves will feel they have plenty to play for, given they missed out on the one-day title.
Nevertheless, there is reason for optimism at Colts — with a good squad full of batsmen who are able to score runs at ease, and bowlers who, as seen in the early stages of the one-day grand final, can put bulk pressure on the best batsmen in the competition, they’ll feel they can compete for this season’s title.
Key to Colts’ good form with the bat has been Rhys Egan and Ed Foreman. Both players are in the top 10 for the highest batting averages in the league, with Egan averaging a touch under 38, while Foreman — who has accumulated the second-most runs in the competition this season — averages 36.6.
Their bowling lineup, however, has been a strong force this season, with five bowlers inside the top 10 wicket-takers.
Ben Stubbings and Matt Scott are equal-top of the bowling charts with nine wickets apiece, sharing honours with Joe Lovel and Harry Lumsden, while ever-reliable bowlers Wayne Stubbings and Richard Clark have taken six wickets each.
In recent weeks, Dayne Baker has returned to the side, and while he vaulted up the charts with a five-wicket haul against Clunes, has since bowled well without luck in the wickets department.
It will be an uphill battle for Beaufort to contain those names. Much of their reliance in the batting department will be on Lachlan Oddie and Blake Jantzen, who have played lone hands for their batting order, combining for 223 of their 545 runs this season.
Beaufort will be looking for Andrew Grant and Joel Pymer to take wickets where needed, leading the way for the team this season with four and three wickets respectively.
The two teams’ last meeting in the two-day format came in round 11 of the 2019/20 season, a game where Colts were able to take first-innings points.
Three wickets apiece from Clark, Baker and Kane Shepherd helped restrict Beaufort to 89 runs, before good scores from Rhys Wagstaff (39) and Branden Wagstaff (41) helped ensure Colts would take the points by declaring on 6/139.