Tasmanian captain George Bailey believes Tuesday’s heavy JLT One-Day Cup victory over South Australia was a sign that the Tigers are on the right path under coach Adam Griffith.
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The 129-run win over the Redbacks at North Sydney Oval opened Tasmania’s account for the summer after losses to New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia.
“It was nice to get some indication that with all the things we have been working on as group, we are heading in the right direction,’’ the 35-year-old told Fairfax Media on Wednesday.
“It is hard not to get caught up in the win/loss column and Griff is doing a really good job of ensuring we are focused on the bigger picture and trying to make sure we can get better as a group and as individuals.”
Bailey said the even spread of contributors pleased him the most. The skipper top-scored with 86 from 62 balls, Alex Doolan made 62 from 90, Matthew Wade 46 from 45, Ben Dunk 45 from 61 and James Faulkner 34 not out from 10.
With the ball, Dunk was the surprise destroyer, with 3-14 from 4.2 overs with his part-time off-spin, while leg-spinner Cameron Boyce picked up 3-27 from nine overs and quick Riley Meredith 2-31 from seven.
Unfortunately for Bailey it does not seem he can take credit for introducing Dunk into the attack on Tuesday, whose victims included the dangerous Callum Ferguson and Jake Lehmann.
“That was Wadey’s plan, which is great assistance for me to have someone with Wadey’s experience and cricketing nous.
“I don’t think we had taken a wicket in the first 10 overs in any of the games in Perth and Wadey threw out the option that if their two left-handers, particularly at the top, hadn’t been dismissed it might be worth throwing him the ball early and seeing if he can provide something a bit different.
“The downside is that he now has a couple of wickets in his pocket and he won’t shut up about it. He calls North Sydney Oval the ‘bowler’s graveyard’, so he reckons three wickets in the bowler’s graveyard is a pretty good return.”
He said the remainder of the 50-over competition, which is likely to be only two games more for the Tigers, was about continuing to give their young players an opportunity and build confidence ahead of the start of the Sheffield Shield.
Tasmania will continue its one-day campaign against the CA XI on Friday at Hurstville Oval, before facing Queensland in Hobart on Tuesday.