Cats to beef up pace attack
Buchanan flags changes for first two-dayer
GEELONG will move to bolster its bowling stocks as it prepares for the first two-day clash of the Victorian Premier Cricket season.
Cats coach Liam Buchanan flagged a potential change for the Round 4 match against Greenvale, with medium paceman Dylan Moroney likely to be recalled.
Moroney’s return could come at the expense of Tyler Larkin, who has batted at No. 7 and No. 8 in his previous three knocks this season.
Speedster Jake Reed, who made his long-awaited return against St Kilda on Saturday before being rested for the clash with Monash Tigers, also slots back into the line-up.
“Reed comes back in and we may bring in another bowler from the twos to strengthen our bowling,” Buchanan said.
“Our batting has been pretty strong. We’ve got a luxury player like Tyler Larkin batting at No. 8, but we’ll shuffle our batting order around a bit now that it’s red-ball cricket.
“Another bowler will help balance the side out a bit. It’s probably out of Dylan Moroney and Tom Smith, but I’m leaning towards Dylan, to be honest.”
The Cats had mixed results in the double header, going down to an understrength St Kilda, while collecting a solid win over the Tigers to be just outside the top-eight on percentage.
“The bowlers did well on Saturday, but the batters let us down,” Buchanan said.
“We got a few starts but no one finished it off. I think the scoreboard pressure got to a few of the guys, so that was a bit disappointing but they rectified that on Sunday.
“It was a really good day, and to get two wins against those clubs, we would’ve taken that at the start of the year.”
Geelong is eager to turn its attention to two-day cricket, a format that has brought out the best in them in recent seasons.
“We’re looking forward to getting back into that,” Buchanan said. “If you look at our last couple of seasons we’ve been really strong in red-ball cricket and we assume that would continue with the side we’ve got.
“We’ve got a pretty good bowling list and they like the red ball.”
The Cats travel to Greenvale Reserve on back-to-back Saturdays, meeting a Kangaroos’ outfit that is yet to open its account in 2018-19.
“If you look at last year, they were outrighted quite a bit by the stronger sides in twoday cricket. We’re not going in there with the aim to outright them, but we’re going to be very positive in the way that we play,” Buchanan said.