Sport
18 January, 2024
Colts look to cement status as two-day challengers against Carisbrook
Fresh off an outright win which has catapulted them into top-two contention, Colts Phelans will be looking to continue their good form over the next fortnight when they host Carisbrook. It appears that with their best team in, Colts look to be...
Fresh off an outright win which has catapulted them into top-two contention, Colts Phelans will be looking to continue their good form over the next fortnight when they host Carisbrook.
It appears that with their best team in, Colts look to be a threat to repeat their grand final appearance in the two-day game last season, particularly with many of their better players firing on all cylinders.
Rhys Wagstaff converted his good start on the first day’s play against Beaufort into a well-deserved 50, his second of the season, while in the second innings, Rhys Egan was superb in guiding Colts to victory with his unbeaten 42.
With the ball, Nick Henderson put it all together for his best performance of the season, collecting five wickets throughot the game to move to equal top of the Colts wicket charts along with Dave Robinson.
And with winning form against Carisbrook this season, they’ll certainly back themselves in to repeat the dose again over the next two weeks.
But what of the Brookers?
While they were outclassed by Clunes over the last two weeks, you have to admire their dogged determination to prevent the Magpies from taking an outright victory, eventually holding on by just one wicket to limit the damage to first innings points.
Certainly, they will be happy to have got some good production out of new recruits Brayden Wright and Ritik Yadav, with Wright scoring 29 in the second innings, while Yadav was outstanding, collecting five wickets and conceding just 40 runs from 22 overs.
Likewise, they’ll be pleased with Caleb Cluff’s application to help give Carisbrook a good standing in the second innings as he held on to his wicket, top-scoring with 36, while the Cullinan brothers, Atticus and Elliot, also frustrated Clunes’ bowling attack for long periods, as did, crucially, James Adam and Nick Broad for the final wicket.
However, there’s no masking that they’ll need to improve quickly from their first innings performance two weeks ago, which saw them bowled out for 62 in just 28 overs.
The sole meeting for the two clubs this season perhaps indicates that there might be a level of patience for Carisbrook if they are to bat first.
In their T20 meeting in round six, the Brookers were held to just 114 runs from their 20 overs, but had only lost three wickets.
Leading runscorer Dean Nalder proved hard to get out, scoring 59 runs, while Adam also performed well, scoring 33 runs.
However, Colts proved too strong in the end, chasing down their target in 16 overs, with Egan’s big hitting, scoring 39 runs off 23 deliveries, allowing them to control the pace of their chase.