Wests chase three-peat
CRICKET: Western Suburbs looks to lead the Toowoomba Cricket charge as the opening round of the Harding-Madsen Shield starts today.
Wests will be joined by Met Easts, Northern Brothers Diggers, Southern Districts, Highfields-Railways and University in the inter-district competition, and will want to continue their dominance.
The team has claimed the last two titles out of the three competitions to date, and has its eyes firmly set on adding a third.
Captain Luke Neale said the team welcomed in a number of new players this year as it begins a tilt for a three-peat.
“We’ve got a few fresh faces to the team this year, and we’ve lost three of four from last year,” Neale said.
“We have three debutantes this weekend and it’s a good chance to get in and show what they’re made of.
“They’ve trained hard and should be ready to go.
“They’ve been able to gel well with returning players, and a few are already mates with blokes in the team so they’ve fitted right in.”
Despite success in the competition to date, Neale said Wests weren’t worried about anything beyond the immediate task at hand.
The side’s campaign commences against this year’s Toowoomba Cricket A-grade premiers Northern Brothers Diggers at Heritage Oval.
“We’re focused on taking it one week at a time,” he said.
“We know Diggers will be tough. We’ve played a lot of cricket against them over the last few years and a few finals games as well.
“We know what we’re up against and it will be a matter of executing it.
“Our core group of players will be required to play well. Shaun McCarthy and Daley Martin are leading bowlers and Chris Gillam has been big for us. Other players chip in well around them.”
In other matches University plays host to the Northsiders at USQ, Southern Districts looks to pick up an opening round win against Central, Highfields-Railways travels to Ipswich to take on Brothers, and Met Easts faces off on the road to Laidley.