Darling Downs prepares for tilt at O’Dea Shield
CRICKET: The Darling Downs and South West Queensland U21s are looking to claim regional honours at this weekend’s O’Dea Shield at Ipswich.
Competing against teams from Wide Bay, South East Queensland and the Gold Coast, the DDSWQ side come in as underdogs, but are confident they can make their presence felt.
“I believe we’ll be in the mix. We’ve got a reasonably balanced side and a bit of flair in some of our batting,” coach Tony Anderson said.
“I’m sort of hoping we can post a few formidable totals on the board.
“We’re always around the middle of the pack. We’ve had
‘‘ I BELIEVE WE’LL BE IN THE MIX. WE’VE GOT A REASONABLY BALANCED SIDE AND A BIT OF FLAIR IN SOME OF OUR BATTING.
TONY ANDERSON
some solid performances but no real stand-out to my knowledge.
“We’re looking forward to pressing that a bit more and exerting some of the experience we’ve got to get us into the top two.
“I’d like to see us there.” A handful of players made the trip north to Mackay to represent the region at the Bulls Masters at the weekend, and Anderson is hoping they bring that experience back to the U21 level.
“I’m expecting some good things from skipper Luke Neale. He can show some leadership qualities,” he said.
“Playing with the Bulls Masters was good exposure with the open side and I expect him to bring that back to this level.
“I also expect leadership
Madsen
from Dan (Anderson) and Tully (Wilson) who both come back from Bulls Masters as well.
“Tully’s in our middle order and has showed maturity beyond his years. Dan with the ball has come back from there and it was a good learning experience.
“Kane Bradford has plenty of experience in the local competition as well, so I’ll be looking on those players particularly.”
The DDSWQ campaign begins today with Twenty20 matches against Wide Bay and the Gold Coast, followed by a one-day match against Southeast Queensland.
Anderson said adjusting to the different formats would be key to performing well.
“The Twenty20 competition is going to be a bit tricky for us,” he said.
“We’ll have to see how the game is played. I went away away with the Bulls Masters and saw how standards and tactics came into it.
“We’ll see if we can adopt some of those principles into the U21s with powerplays and field settings.” DDSWQ SQUAD: Ash Singh, Sharujan Makendraraj, Luke Neale, Tully Wilson, Carter Bilbrough, Pat Bourke, Brandon Walker, Kane Bradford, Jack McNeil, Daniel Anderson, Sam Neale, Nick Brown.