Cats aim for early wickets

GEELONG captain Tim Ludeman maintains his team needs an early wicket as the Cats bid to take the scalp of form side Melbourne Uni.

With a 128-run buffer, the Cats require five wickets to topple the home side at University Oval tomorrow.

Ludeman stressed his team must remove talented strikers Isaiah Borgas and Liam Scammell in quick succussion to stifle any Uni comeback.

“We’re in a good position, but cricket’s a funny game, isn’t it?” said Ludeman, whose side restricted Uni to 5-60 at stumps in chase of 188.

“They’ve still got some handy batters to come, so we won’t be taking them easy, that’s for sure.

“The two guys at the crease have had a good year so far and they’ve still got a bit to come.

“From my time in South Australia, Wes Agar can certainly hold a bat. They’ve got plenty of batting left.

“We’re going to have to bring our A game on Saturday to finish the job off.”

Fresh from a solid 80 against Dandenong last round, Borgas is the danger man.

Unbeaten on four, Borgas teamed up with Scammell to survive to stumps last week.

Scammell has been impressive in the lower order this season, dismissed just once in five knocks for 105 runs.

Uni wicketkeeper-batsman Jarrod Martignago is listed to come in next, with bowling allrounder Agar to follow.

But the Cats bowlers are on a roll, with paceman Dom McGlinchey (2-8), Jake Reed (2-22) and Brody Couch (1-11) ripping through the Uni top order.

“When you’ve got a pitch that’s got a bit of life in it, you can get a bit carried away at times,” Ludeman said.

“So we still went through the right processes, putting the ball in good areas and making the batters play. I think we did that pretty well and I think that’s why we’re in the position that we are.”