Sport
15 November, 2024
Laane and Carisbrook stand-alone
REDPATH TYRE AND BATTERY SERVICE A GRADE CARISBROOK V LAANECOORIE DUNOLLY
Just the one game this week, but it features the unbeaten Laanecoorie Dunolly looking to continue their run against an improving Carisbrook side fresh off their first win of the season.
Laane come into this one with all guns blazing, having poured 297 runs on the board against Clunes, and eventually finishing with a dominant 194-run victory.
It seemed there was nothing anyone could do about the dominance of Alex Cook last Saturday, with the English all-rounder plundering the Magpie bowlers to all parts of True Blue Floors Oval last week in making an unbeaten 116 off just 80 deliveries — the first A grade hundred of the season, which also vaulted him to the top of the run charts at the expense of teammate Tom Hannett.
Indeed, Cook leads both the batting and bowling in the early stages of the season, but while his batting took all the headlines last week, his bowling prowess has been insane — taking 10 wickets at the otherworldly average of three at a run-rate of just 1.5 an over, which included 3/10 last week.
There is more than enough star power in both teams’ batting lineups to suggest this could be a supercharged, high-scoring game.
Hannett, as mentioned before, has had a super start to the season, despite only making 11 last week, and lies second in the runscoring charts with 158 runs at an average of 79.
Then there’s Kamaljot Romana, with Laane’s newest recruit making his presence felt with a stirring 66 on debut last week.
Carisbrook, for their part, have two batsmen in the top 10 in the competition, with Dean Nalder sitting third on 125 runs after an outstanding start to the season, while Liam Hurse has given Carisbrook continuity in the upper middle order with 102 runs in two innings.
Pleasingly for Carisbrook, they found the continuity they wanted out of their top order in their stirring round four win over Clunes, with Nalder and Hurse scoring 42 apiece, while Martin Mark scored 43 and Chris Lee 35.
The work of William Coutts couldn’t be underestimated either — despite scoring 34 runs from 82 deliveries two weeks ago, he was important in taking the shine away from the ball to allow his teammates to thrive at the other end.
With the potential for runscoring comes the opportunity for wickets with aggressive play, and both teams have enjoyed good starts to the year on that end.
For Laane, Cook has been the star with his 10 wickets, while Sam Bartlett has been comfortable in taking three wickets — with he and Joe Lovel forming a strong opening combination which hasn’t been easy to make runs against.
Zach Graham has made a welcome return over the last two weeks, and has also taken three wickets, while Josh Britten has likewise benefitted, taking three wickets off just seven overs.
Carisbrook, too, have had their moments.
Nalder and Atticus Cullinan currently lead the way from a bowling standpoint with five wickets apiece, with Nalder averaging 19 and Cullinan averaging 30.2.
Hurse, again, is also near the top of the charts, taking four wickets at 20.
The Brookers will need to slow down the rate of scoring Laane is capable of, having scored 402 from 78 overs in their last meeting late last season, and their aforementioned 297 last week at a rate of 7.4 an over, while each of the Carisbrook bowlers have conceded more than four runs an over across the board, with Nalder having the lowest run-rate of 4.1 runs per over so far this season.