Star pair to lift Tigers

TORQUAY will regain two “walk-up” stars as it prepares for its clash against a weakened Bell Park.

Tigers captain-coach Dale McDonald yesterday said allrounder Anthony Foord and gun recruit Christian Hewett would return to the side that was soundly beaten by Murgheboluc in Round 1.

The Dragons also have some significant changes for the grand final rematch, with champion pair Mick and Shane Lymer unavailable.

McDonald said while the absence of the matchwinning all-rounders was a boost for his side, he would not take the reigning premier lightly.

“I received a message from Ash Russell earlier mentioning that they were unavailable, which is nice to have two experienced cricketers not playing,” McDonald said.

“But we’re just looking forward to what we can do, rather than worrying about the opposition. I don’t particularly take a lot of notice, to be honest, as long as we’re doing what we can control.”

Torquay is close to regaining gun Tom Henderson, who is recovering from a knee injury sustained in the BFL reserves grand final.

“We’ve got pretty good strength in the club at the moment,” McDonald said. “We’ve brought in a fifth XI … and we’ve got strong numbers with about 20 new players wanting to come and play for us, which is really positive.”

It was a tough initiation for McDonald and the Tigers in the season opener, going down to the Frogs by eight wickets.

“They were fantastic,” McDonald said.

“They just outplayed us in all facets, which is disappointing from our point of view. They bowled well to the conditions, they fielded exceptionally and they did everything right.

“They would’ve saved 40 runs in the field and that’s the difference between getting 170-180, rather than 140. They were too good for us and it’s a credit to them.

“It was disappointing, but there’s another game this week where we can hopefully redeem ourselves.”