Let’s talk hoodoos – the Chicago Cubs in the World Series, the Wallabies in the Bledisloe Cup, Cleveland in general and now, in Orange District Cricket Association terms, Centrals.
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Well, to be fair, Centrals’ hoodoo isn’t quite the 108-year drought the Cubs went through, but the red and blacks will still need to defy recent history if they’re to down Cavaliers in the opening two-dayer of the 2017-18 summer.
Since defeating the maroons to secure their last premiership in 2011-12, Centrals have faced Cavaliers 19 times across all forms of the game.
They’ve tasted victory just once, in round 12 of 2015-16, most of those losses coming as a direct result of Cavaliers guns Richie Venner and Stu Middleton firing.
That’s a winning percentage of just 5.26, with Cavaliers winning the last eight encounters.
Even so, with the maroons coming off a season-opening loss to a Kinross side many suggest could go deep into the competition Centrals skipper Daryl Kennewell said there’s no better time to face their bogey team.
The red and blacks are coming off a disappointing loss to CYMS, but Kennewell said he’s hoping his side has learned its lessons from that game.
Centrals rocketed into the box seat, Kennewell and the returning Dan Sandford running rampant to leave CYMS 5-25 and reeling.
Then the wheels fell off.
The green and golds went on to make 182, before the red and blacks limped to 107 in reply.
“It was those middle overs with the ball, we just fell asleep, we took our foot off the gas,” he said.
“CYMS shouldn’t have made more than 100, but we let them get to 180-odd.
“No, we didn’t bat well so that’s an area we need to be better as well but we can put that loss down to taking our foot off the gas after our opening bowlers finished.
“Obviously it’s only the first game of the year so it’s not the end of the world, but we probably should’ve won that game from where we were.
“It’s probably a pretty good time for us to play Cavaliers. They’re coming off a loss and that might make them a bit more dangerous, but they’ve got a good side and it gives us a good chance to work on what we need to work on against a strong team.”
The whole group needs to make sure we stay switched on.
- Centrals skipper Daryl Kennewell
One big factor is the fact Sandford hasn’t played for several years, but was in that successful grand final team. In fact, he inspired the win with a six-wicket haul.
“He’s a great bowler, there’s no doubting that,” Kennewell said.
“He came back and hit the spot immediately last weekend, it looked like he’s never stopped.
“But he needs the support from the rest of our attack.
“Zac Reimer bowled so well last year, it was a big decision to take the new ball off him but I’m confident he’ll do his job.
“It’s just a thing the whole group needs to do, make sure we stay switched on.”
Saturday’s opening day kicks off at 1pm at Wade Park, continuing the following weekend.
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
