Dew sparkles with ball and bat
THOMSON skipper Adam Bliss believes his side is “pretty close” to playing its best cricket after cruising to a nine-wicket victory over Guild-Saints.
“We’ve got a good balance and have started to work out what we want to do from there, so I’d say we’d be pretty close to our best cricket at the moment,” Bliss said.
“Unavailabilities have kind of hampered us in some weeks, which happens to everyone all around the league.
“But once Christmas rolls around we’ll definitely be able to play our best cricket and be in a good position to play our best in March.”
Guild English import Ed Galley was all who stood between the Saints and an even bigger capitulation than the 123 they were eventually bowled out for.
The left-hander manipulated the field to great effect after surviving a strong caught behind appeal on 10.
Galley used both traditional and reverse sweeps to propel himself to 60, but after consecutive boundaries off the evergreen Grant Dew, the turning point in the game came as Galley was given out after playing another reverse sweep and getting struck on the front pad.
The Englishman was reluctant to walk as the Tigers appealed for both the lbw and the catch as the ball ballooned to Bliss at first slip, but the Thomson skipper was sure he had his man.
“Dewy was pretty confident he had him lb, it hit him on the full so it looked pretty convincing,” he said.
“If the umpire did have any doubt that he might’ve hit it, at least we had the catch, too, as well as the lb.”
It was Dew’s second dismissal following a well-flighted delivery to beat the defences of Steve Kelly, and the veteran continued a masterful allround display by anchoring the chase with an unbeaten 60, combining with Corey Bell (42) in an 89-run partnership.
“It’s the best form I’ve seen him in since he’s been back at Thomson,” Bliss said of Dew.
“The thing I’m most pleased with is he’s really hungry. He puts us into a position to put teams to the sword which is great.”