Skipper carries bat for first ton
A MAIDEN ton to stand-in United captain Cameron Davis has led the charge for a resurgence of the willow across Cricket Far North.
The veteran opener carried his bat through his side’s innings on Saturday grafting for 102 not out, more than half of United’s total of 9-196 at stumps against Mulgrave.
Davis said it had been a long time coming to reach the milestone after coming close in the past and was thrilled to contribute to a handy total.
“It is great to get the monkey off the back and it was good I got it against Mulgrave as well ... they’re the benchmark. They make it feel worth it,” he said.
“I seem to get to 80 a lot but I’ve never seemed to be able to go on with it.
“We didn’t have the greatest of starts and we needed someone to hang around and we were able to build up a great total.”
Davis paid tribute to Arjun Maili, who took the pressure off his captain with an attacking approach against 2015-16 leading wicket-taker Dan Kendrick.
While it paid dividends for 30 runs, the leg-spinner had the last laugh with a haul of 5-55 in his first match of the season.
“Dan’s a quality bowler. He’s got the three deliveries of a good leg-spinner, which is a bit of a challenge but it’s quite a lot of fun,” Davis said.
United will have the services of regular skipper Kieran Gibbs next week after he missed the Day 1 action and his off-spin will be a key part of his side’s back-to-back wins to start 2016-17.
“At least we’ve given him something good to come back to,” Davis said.
He hoped a few early wickets next week would heap even more pressure on the defending premiers.
“It will be a challenge next week. We’ll still have to bowl well. But we’ve definitely got something to bowl at.”
Rovers have Tully on the ropes at 3-31 after a mammoth first innings score of 277 at Endeavour Park.