Mulgrave bowlers up for challenge ahead
TAKING the fight back to the competition has Mulgrave bowlers fired up to defend a solid first-innings total against Norths and all but guarantee a two-day final berth.
The Toads were sent in on what was far from the minefield many thought it would be after recent rain, although it looked dire when Justin Reid and Alex Bone fell without scoring to leave their side 2-0 early.
As ever, Jake Roach came to the rescue, topscoring with 68 before the tail wagged to get Mulgrave to 186.
Norths finished the day 0-8 and all-rounder Mitch Warnock said they may have had more than nine overs to face with a more disciplined effort.
“We dropped off a little bit in the middle overs and couldn’t get the wickets we needed to keep them to 130 to 150, but we’re still pretty confident we can get the job done next week,” he said.
“Kyll (Wright) bowled really well and got wickets when we needed them. He just beat them with pace and he’s got a lot of aggression.
“Hopefully we get a fair bit of sun on it during the week and it’s a good batting wicket next week.
“They do have the wood on us but I think we just need to dig in and bat the overs and we should get the job done.”
Mulgrave paceman Matt Di Salvo said the total was more than enough for the bowlers to defend, despite some recent lapses with the ball.
The Toads were undone with nine overs to spare in the one-day final against Atherton the previous weekend.
Di Salvo said it made his teammates realise they had to be on their game to challenge for the last remaining trophy of the season.
“If we bowl our areas and to our plans we’re confident we can knock them over and defend it,” he said.
“We’ve just spoken about sticking to our plans and how we play our cricket and dictating what we want the batsmen to do.
“We’ve got a good bowling attack and we know if we do that we come up trumps more often that not.
“We’ve probably been a little bit off at times and other teams have really challenged us and done well so we’ve got to lift to go back and fight against them and challenge them. But we’re up for it.
“How we fought back (on Saturday) was really good and showed we’ve got that fight to win games still, so it was impressive.”
HOW WE FOUGHT BACK (ON SATURDAY) WAS REALLY GOOD AND SHOWED WE’VE GOT THAT FIGHT TO WIN GAMES STILL, SO IT WAS IMPRESSIVE.
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