Cricket North: Michael Lukic on the Westbury Shamrocks season

Last year's Greater Northern Cup grand finalists are proving that their 2020-21 efforts are no fluke and find themselves at third-place in the competition's table.

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One of the key drivers behind that form has been the efforts of Lukic, who has claimed eight wickets at 11.50, only shaded by fellow Shamrocks' tweaker Kieren Hume as Westbury's best bowler.

The Shamrocks veteran was quick to deflect the conversation from his personal form to the bowling group which sits as the fourth-best wicket-taking team with 34 wickets in the Greater Northern Cup.

"It's nice to have been able to grab a couple of wickets I suppose but they're not always a good reflection of how you're actually bowling," he said.

"A lot of the good work we've been doing as a club has been as a bowling group and to get a contribution from everyone that's had the ball.

"We're getting support from either end and in the field and from the captain as well."

Lukic proved to have a wicket-taking knack from his first game of the season but ramped it up against Wynyard with figures of 3-4 taken off 19 balls for season-best figures.

However, a different game caught Lukic's eye as his personal favourite from the season so far.

"That first game we played against South [Launceston] was just a good game of cricket to be involved in, it went all the way to the last over and we had to fight hard," he said.

"That's not necessarily maybe something individual but in terms of team performance that was definitely one of the better wins in my time at Westbury that I was involved in."

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As a former Shamrocks captain, Lukic has been a sounding board within a youthful Westbury side but learnt some new tricks along the way.

"That's something I've really enjoyed being a part of as well like the group is a little different to what I've played with in the past and we've lost a lot of experience," he said.

"The positives are that everyone has continued their development and we're at a stage where we're not relying on one or two bowlers, everyone's playing their part.

"So I might take the responsibility of taking a couple of the young bowlers under my wing and working with them on what they want to achieve but I am also learning all the time from them as well."

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