GROVEY IN GROOVE
Moran crunches century, Wedge whacks 50 as Tigers jump to third
GROVEDALE has stamped itself a genuine contender, moving into third position on the GCA1 ladder after a Jordan Moran masterclass underpinned a 91-run defeat of Lara.
Capitalising on the good work of Andrew Wedge (51) and Mick McNeel (46), the Tigers mentor crafted a brilliant 93-ball 101 before becoming one of Luke Wilson’s victims (4-34).
“It’s pleasing to be consistent, but as coach, I’m parking my season on the improvement in McNeel and Wedge, and building the culture of the team to score runs,” Moran said.
“Something that we pride ourselves on is having more guys contributing and it’s starting to click on how to go through the gears and build an innings.
“We’ve got a big focus on scoring 70 to 80 singles and if we can do that, the scoreboard looks after itself.”
Wedge’s milestone comes after a string of pre-Christmas starts, while McNeel elevated his season’s aggregate to 288 runs at an average of 48.
“Having McNeel contributing consistently is a tribute to the work that he’s been doing off the field,” Moran said.
“It’s the same for ‘Wedgy’, it’s pleasing to see him make his first GCA1 half century.”
Despite a depleted line-up, the Cats approached the task with intent as teenage prodigy Kaden Marum (30) laid the platform for Rob Sodomaco (63) and skipper Daniel Weigl (56) to see Lara well placed at 2-141.
However, the reintroduction of Sam Coutts (3-34) proved a turning point as the Tigers firebrand sparked a collapse that saw the Cats lose 8-35. Luke Guest enjoyed an all-round cameo with 3-21 with the ball on the back of 33 with the bat.
“The good thing is in that in posting a score like 267 the run rate is always going up,” Moran said.
“There are 50 little games out there when the run rate is going up and if we can win more than we lose we know that we’re going to be there at the back end of the innings.”