Tigers can set finals
But Dragons on a roll
A HANDFUL of teams remain in contention for the GCA2 premiership with two rounds to play.
One match, between fourth-placed Torquay and fifth-placed Bell Park at Hamlyn Park on Saturday, could either lock in the top four or open up an intriguing final Saturday of the home-and-away season.
The Dragons roared into contention last weekend with resounding wins against top side Bell Post Hill on Saturday and second-placed Marshall on Sunday.
Victory against the Tigers would close the gap between fourth and fifth to just four points, with the Dragons set to play seventh-placed Alexander Thomson in the final round.
Snatching a semi-final spot would complete a remarkable late season turnaround for the Dragons, who have battled admirably in the wake of the salary cap scandal that cost them last season’s trophies and has caused considerable selection headaches due to revised player points allocations.
For James Fisher’s Torquay, defeating Bell Park would guarantee a finals berth and open up the possibility to finish as high as third.
The alternative is a likely must-win encounter with Marshall next Saturday.
The Tigers have been a constant in the top half of the ladder this summer but four straight losses from late January to mid-February put their premiership hopes in jeopardy.
Fisher believes his side’s best is well and truly good enough and his charges responded well during last weekend’s double header round, comfortably accounting for St Peters and Modewarre.
Sitting in third, Geelong City has a seemingly easier path to the finals.
Ahead of Torquay on percentage, City hosts the unpredictable St Peters on Saturday.
A final round meeting against Modewarre should provide the Sharks the points they need should they fumble their lines this afternoon.
The scrap for top spot is a race in two, with Bell Post Hill ahead of Marshall on percentage. Three wins clear of City and Torquay, the Panthers and the Bears have relatively straightforward assignments today.
For the Bears to finish on top, they will need to inflict a heavy defeat on Modewarre before setting their sights on Torquay.
The Panthers face Alexander Thomson today and will then seek to atone for a recent loss to St Peters when they tackle the Saints in the final round.
St Peters and Alexander Thomson have had their share of highlights throughout the season and will hope to finish off strongly, while Modewarre will look to build on its improved post-Christmas form.
BATTING is all about making the right decisions and keeping your cool and those traits continue to vault Sean O’Neill up the ladder of greatest GCA batsmen of all time.
The East Belmont skipper (pictured) is putting the finishing touches on another dominant year, having so far smacked 829 runs at an average of 75.4 with two regular season matches and finals to play.
That current tally already ranks ninth all time in GCA1, according to the late historian Kevin O’Dowd’s records and MyCricket statistics.
O’Neill already holds the No 1 spot, with his 1007-run masterpiece in 2018-19.
Should his red-hot form continue — O’Neill dominated last weekend’s double header by making
113 and 93, both not out — he could break through the 1000-run barrier again.
No other man in the competition’s history has reached 1000 runs in one summer.
To find out what makes the opening bat so good, the Addy canvassed players who have seen him up close this season.
Newtown & Chilwell skipper Dylan Hodge bowled to O’Neill in Round 13 as he plundered 116 not out and batted through the entire 50-over innings.
The Lions star’s temperament to stay focused at the crease and bat through the innings stood out to Hodge.
“It puts you on the back foot because you feel like even if you have executed your best ball you have to change something,” Hodge said. “Just trying to bowl to him individually, you know he can score 360 (degrees) around the ground.
“Particularly in the one-day game you want to try and block off one part of the ground that they can’t score to and he makes that really tough.
“I think he just knows his strengths and weaknesses pretty well.”
Leopold speedster Ben Horne has taken more
GCA1 wickets than any bowler this season and knocked over O’Neill for a duck in Round 15.
He is probably right in the prime of his career, which is pretty intimidating for the rest of the comp.”
Hodgson St Joseph’s Andrew
He backed Hodge up and said what set the power hitter apart was his ability to hit even good balls to the ropes.
O’Neill barely gave a chance in his 113 not out against Lara last Saturday, until he was caught by Andy Hughes — only for Hughes to crash into a boundary cone and subsequently allow O’Neill to bring up his century.
Lara skipper Dan Weigl had success against O’Neill in Round 7 when he was trapped LBW by Casey
Young for one.
“You’ve got to attack him early,” Weigl said.
“You have to back your bowlers and that happened early in the year when we played him. He got a good one early when the ball was swinging around.
“He puts a pretty big price on his wicket and batted quite restrained (last week) and he obviously hit a few big balls at the end, which he is certainly capable of.”
Well known for his ability to clear the ropes, O’Neill has been reserved in recent weeks as he has batted through the innings three times out of four.
Joeys coach Andrew Hodgson was in the field in
Round 10 when he smacked 118 off 104 balls and was struck by his decisionmaking at the crease.
“As simple as it sounds, he punishes the bad ball for four, doesn’t get out to the good balls and anything that is not quite right he scores off,” Hodgson said.
“People talk about him being destructive — which he certainly can be — his last two innings have shown that when his teams needs him to bat through he can.
“He is probably right in the prime of his career, which is pretty intimidating for the rest of the comp. His ability to hit balls for four is just superior to others in the comp.”
And so to the natural question: if O’Neill could potentially soon hold the two highest scoring seasons of all time, is he the best GCA batsman of modern times?
Hodge placed him alongside destructive Grovedale batsman Jordan Moran and Hodgson said it was difficult to split him with former St Joseph’s star Leigh Kentish.
Geelong City champion Richie Oliver remained marginally ahead, according to Weigl.
But the resume continues to grow for O’Neill.
“It’s hard to say he is the best (batsman I have seen) because you generally only see these guys once a year. But what he has done against us in the last few years would suggest that if he’s not the best, he is very, very close,” Hodgson said.