Billed as the match of the TCL Premier League season to date, second-placed Beauty Point will host an undefeated Longford in a battle of the competition’s two Tigers on Saturday.
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Tamar Tigers captain-coach Rob Crane said his charges have been gearing up for what he considers a defining moment in their season.
Beauty Point is 10 points behind the Country Tigers with seven wins and four losses.
“We batted pretty poor last week against Legana and we ended up getting away with the win coming off a bye,” Crane said.
“Josh Adams is Longford’s key wicket as he can hold an innings together, I don’t know much about Shannon Rumbel but I watched him in the T20 final and it seems like he can hit a pretty crisp ball.
“Big Q (Quinton Tahiri) got the ball swinging last week and collected career best figures (6-38). We just have to bowl and bat well and we’re a chance.”
Crane has named an unchanged XI.
DIGGERS captain-coach Andy Bassett will welcome back Simon Thomas, Matthew Lockhart and Josh Clarke for an all-important encounter with Cressy at Hagley Oval.
“Thomas is an all-rounder, Clarke does special things in the field and Lockhart is a pretty good batter to give us some flexibility,” he said.
“We struggled with bat last week [bowled out for 93 against ACL] and have done most of the year.
“Cressy will be a tough task as they are a good all-round side.”
Bulldogs captain-coach Damian Whybrow said Jono Goss, Sam Graham, Matthew Hayward and Mark Cooper would be drafted into his line-up.
“The Diggers bowled well against us in the T20 early on, but they can also have the ability to score quickly,” Whybrow said.
HADSPEN is coming off the bye and two-straight victories as it prepares for Legana at home without skipper Liam Reynolds in the final roster match before the Christmas break.
Reynolds said he would be replaced in the Chieftains’ side by fast bowler Dave Smith, who has recovered from an Achilles strain.
“We’re beginning to play the kind of cricket that we want and expect,” Reynolds said.
“We’ve put in a couple of solid batting performances in recent weeks and hopefully we can do the same at home again.”
It has been five weeks since the fifth-ranked Durhams recorded a win.
TCL LADDER
- 1: Longford – 32
- 2: Beauty Point – 22
- 3: Hadspen – 16
- 4: ACL – 14
- 5: Cressy – 13
- 6: Legana – 11
- 7: Diggers – 6