In the absence of regular skipper Daryl Kennewell Dean Turner will take Centrals’ reins against Orange City in Orange District Cricket Association’s fifth round this weekend, and he was quick to claim underdog status against the greens.
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To be fair, it’s probably warranted considering the Warriors are one point off the competition lead, in third, while Centrals are winless on the bottom of the ladder.
Outside Kennewell the red and blacks are missing a handful of other players this weekend too, including Wes Roweth, who smashed 91 in the side’s last-start tie against Kinross.
“Nick Sharp is out as well and Nick Dunlop has done his hamstring,” Turner explained.
“It’s not ideal for us to be missing those few key players, but it is that time of year when people start making plans and it’s something every side will have to deal with in the next few games I think.
“It’d be the perfect time for us to get our first win, but I think we’ll need everything to go our way. We’ll need to start scoring some runs too.”
It’d be the perfect time for us to get our first win, but I think we’ll need everything to go our way.
- Centrals stand-in skipper Dean Turner
That’s been Centrals’ issue this summer, scoring runs. Or rather, not doing so.
The red and blacks have only passed 150 once this summer and even then, that innings of 192 – they were chasing 224 to win – still featured just three individual scores above 20.
“Everyone’s bowled really well so we’ve had no big trouble bowling teams out,” Turner said, pointing to Dan Sandford and Zac Reimer – who snared a hat-trick in that tie – in particular.
“We just need to knuckle down a bit with the bat and try and form a few partnerships.
“That’s the key, we’ve had a few guys make decent scores but haven’t put together any real partnerships.”
Turner highlighted Warriors quicks Ed Morrish and Jackson Coote as the two biggest obstacles to his side doing that.
Morrish is the competition’s leading wicket-taker, his nine scalps have come at just eight runs apeice, while Coote has snared four at 16.8 and bowled superbly for Western Zone at the McDonald’s Country Championship earlier this month.
“Ed looks like he’s been bowling really well, he’s taking wickets, and Coote is always pretty classy so they’re the obvious dangers,” Turner said.
Orange City had its own batting woes in a last-up defeat to Cavaliers, the Warriors slumped to 7-55 and only a 97-run eighth wicket stand from Morrish and Shaun Grenfell gave the greens a sniff, albeit a very small one.
Saturday’s clash kicks off at 1pm, at Country Club Oval.
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.
