EAST Gambier hosts North Sportsman’s in Round 2 of Barber Shield cricket tomorrow on the turf wicket at Alan Scott Park, in what promises to be another interesting contest.
Going on Round 1 results, both sides are certainly in with a chance of claiming the honours in the limited overs format.
Round 1 saw an impressive result from the Bulldogs, up against the reigning champion Penola.
The Eagles should have claimed the win after a total of 195 off their allotted 40 overs, but someone forgot to tell the Bulldogs, as they chased hard and tied the game at the end of play.
While East struggled to contain the Penola top order batsmen, Thomas Miles finished with an impressive four wickets.
But it was with the bat where the Bulldogs stood tall.
The early wicket of Kyal Chapman spelled trouble, but from there East rallied, with Darren Whitehorn and Dion Stratford taking the game up to the Eagles.
The pair added a handy half-century partnership, before Stratford was part of another with Ash Dumigan.
That set up the tie, with few runs coming from down the order.
That mattered little as the Bulldogs reached the Penola total, but were unable to push for the victory.
For North it was simply a whitewash of Mil Lel, as the latter could only manage 29 runs in its chase.
Declan Kenny was on the mark with the ball, claiming five wickets to end any chance of an upset victory.
That hope was fuelled in the Tigers’ batting innings, where they only managed to score 131 runs and were bowled out in the 37th over.
While it was enough to easily claim the win, it was a meagre total, with the top order not firing at all.
Mitch Lewis, Kayne Badman, Matt McInerney and Michael Johnston all went cheaply – McInerney for a duck – while Jake Schutz could only muster 24 runs.
Luckily for the Tigers Nick McInerney had his eye in, with a timely 44 runs to steady the ship.
The problem for East is standing up to the North bowling attack.
If the Bulldogs can do that they may be a chance to steal a victory.
But they also need to contain the Tigers’ batting lineup, which would be keen to atone for last week’s efforts.
If the top order fires, there is plenty of depth to amass a huge score, which could be the difference in the end.
