By Lachlan Onions
PENOLA v NORTH SPORTSMAN’S
THE Penola Cricket Club will begin its Barber Shield premiership defence this Saturday when it hosts North Sportsman’s at McCorquindale Park.
The Eagles were dominant last season with seven wins in the regular season before they continued that form into finals, with victories over Mil Lel and East Gambier.
The visitors on the other hand, will look to rebuild after they finished fifth last season.
Prior to this, North Sportsman’s had reached the grand final seven seasons in a row.
Despite failing to make finals last season, the Tigers will prove to be a tough challenge for the Eagles, with the visitors boasting a strong batting and bowling line-up, with the likes of Jake Schutz, Nick McInerney and Isaac Mulraney all expected to make life difficult for the reigning premiers.
For the hosts, captain Drew Clayfield and opener Jack Mullan will look to do the damage with the bat, while Michael Waters will be eager to start his season strongly and make an impact with the ball as well as provide a handy contribution with the bat if needed.
Despite’s Mullan’s main contributions coming with the bat, he has proven to be effective with the ball when needed and took six scalps last season at an average of 20.67.
In the two clashes between these two sides last season, the Eagles took the honours on both occasions.
Penola won by 31 runs in the one-dayer in Round 1 last season.
The opening partnership of Mullan and Lewis March provided the platform with the bat with 40 runs and 53 runs respectively, while Josh Doyle took 3/3 off five overs for Penola in the first fixture.
McInerney and Schutz impressed with the bat after the pair scored 45 and 52 runs in last year’s season-opener.
The two sides met again in Round 9 where Penola claimed a first innings victory after they bowled the Tigers out for 90.
Lachlan Jones spearheaded the bowling attack with 4/28 off 21.5 overs.
However, it was Mullan who stole the show with an unbeaten ton in Penola’s second innings, which included seven 4’s and eight 6’s.
With a relatively unchanged side from last season, the Eagles will enter this weekend’s one-day clash as favourites and should claim victory on Saturday.
WEST GAMBIER v MIL LEL
An interesting contest is expected to take place at Malseed Park when Mil Lel pays visit to West Gambier.
Both sides made finals last season but were unable to take the next step and make the grand final after Mil Lel fell to Penola and West Gambier lost to East Gambier.
The Roos finished the regular season in second place last time around and were the only side to claim an outright victory, when they defeated South Gambier in Round 8.
Trent Badman returns to West Gambier this season as coach.
He will look to lead the young Ross alongside captain Jake Blackwell, who will be eager to make an impact with the bat.
After a quiet 2021/22 season with the bat by his lofty standards where he averaged 14.89 with one 50 for the season, Blackwell will look to return to his consistent best which has seen him score 14 50’s and three centuries.
In the absence of Richard Crute, the likes of Sam Willis, Justin Dejong and Kyal Chapman will look to make the impact with the ball.
The trio combined for 49 wickets last season and will be key players for West Gambier when they host Mil Lel.
For Mil Lel, Jack Miller will continue as captain and look to take his side to further heights.
With minimal changes to the roster, the visitors will be eager to improve on their fourth-placed finish last season.
Josh Smith and Will Rowland will be key batters with the former scoring a century last season and the latter three 50’s.
Rowland scored 316 runs at an average of 35.11 and an equally impressive strike-rate of 130.
Miller was a bowler who was a force to be reckoned with last season and will be sure to make an impact on Saturday.
The captain took 26 wickets at an average of 14.73, which included a five-wicket-haul, while the likes of Logan Gibbs, Nicholas Walters and Henry Smith have all proven to be dangerous with the ball.
In the clash between Mil Lel and West gambier last campaign, there was little to split the two sides, as both teams claimed victories on their home turf.
In Round 1, West Gambier claimed a thrilling victory in a game which went right down to the wire, while Mil Lel defeated the Roos by 21 runs in the first inning in the penultimate round of the season.
This weekend’s clash shapes up to be the match of the round, with no obvious favourite, however, home-ground advantage may just be enough for West Gambier to take the spoils in Round 1.
EAST GAMBIER v SOUTH GAMBIER
The Bulldogs will look to bounce back from their disappointing defeat in last season’s grand final with a strong performance at home to the Demons.
It was a difficult 2021/22 campaign for South Gambier, as the side finished in last place on the ladder.
However, there is cause for positivity amongst the Demons after they finished their season with back-to-back victories.
Camron Jorgensen will captain South gambier this season and will hope Daniel Loupos can have an immediate impact with the bat.
Loupos was named in the Team of The Year last campaign with 267 runs and two 50’s, while Robbie Drenthen will look to have an impact with both the bat and ball.
However, the Demons’ batting line-up will be tested when it takes on Alex Hentschke and Liam Turley.
Hentschke was lethal with the ball last season and took 30 wickets at an astonishing average of just 10.27.
The pace bowler has proven he has the ability to lock batters down and dry up the runs as he boasted an economy rate of 2.09 last year.
This will be especially crucial on Saturday with the first round of fixtures being one-dayers.
Turley will be just as vital for the Bulldogs as he took 22 wickets at an average of 15.77 in the 2021/22 campaign.
Dion Stratford will look to continue where he left off last season with the bat after he scored four half-centuries with a highest-score of 92 and averaged 41.56 for the season.
In the first clash between these two sides last season, East Gambier claimed victory in the one-dayer in Round 1 but South Gambier earned a first-innings victory in Round 9.
Despite an impressive end to the season for the Demons, the Bulldogs should have enough strength to kick-start their 2022/23 Barber Shield season.
