Geelong teen gun fires in victory
GEELONG young gun Liam Blackford fell short of truly putting his name up in lights with a maiden century but his first big first XI score at Premier Cricket level set up the Cats’s first win of the season.
The highly rated teen belted 79 from 88 balls to register his first score of note in only his third game at the level.
A member of Australia’s preliminary under-19 World Cup squad, Blackford has made two tons in the seconds for Geelong before his effort on Saturday against Camberwell Magpies.
Ably supported by Gus Boyd (54 from 41 balls), Blackford helped steer the Cats to 283. In response, the Magpies were knocked over for 250 as the Cats executed four run outs.
Geelong director of cricket Travis Agg said while Blackford’s innings was impressive, he could have made even more of a statement had he turned his half-century into triple figures.
“It would have been awesome for (Blackford) to make a hundred,” Agg said.
“In the context of the day, for him to make (79 off 88) it set us up but I would have loved to have seen him get 100 off 120 and we make 310-320 and put the game out of reach altogether.
“In saying that, it was a pretty remarkable innings at the same time in terms of the numbers (for a player of his age).”
With the runs on the board, the Cats attempted to get ahead of the game by throwing the new ball to tweaker Josh Larkin (0-22 from four overs) as part of a plan to limit the damage during the powerplay.
In blustery conditions, the
run rate built through fellow spinners Hayden Butterworth (1-28 off 10) and Tom O’Connell (2-48 off 10) before the run outs truly impacted Camberwell’s chase.
Dom McGlinchey hit the stumps from mid-on and Brody Couch’s rocket arm from the boundary took out dangerous Camberwell batter Liam Fitzpatrick (45 off 51 balls) as he was finding touch.
“We tried to minimise the damage (in the first 10 overs), which I think we did,” Agg said. “That first 10 overs was done pretty well and then with 20 overs to go and the opposition needing to score nearly nine an over (that pressure) was probably a credit to the way we bowled and fielded.
“It’s no secret they have been putting in the work fielding-wise and that paid off on the weekend.
“It was just really good fielding and just guys being really aware of the game situation, which I think was really important.”
Geelong plays away against Richmond next week.