Winning culture
BROTHERS captain Reece Danaher has lauded his team’s fighting spirit after an unbeaten half-century from Herbie Heuir guided them to a five-wicket win over Wanderers at Fred Jacobsen Oval.
Heuir finished on 70 not out from 67 balls including seven fours and two sixes as the understrength Brothers claimed their first win of the Townsville Cricket season with a bonus point.
Injuries have already hit Brothers hard as teenage opener Gary Friend (15) batted with a broken thumb against Wanderers while fellow top order bat Craig Mcelligott is out with a back injury.
Brothers were on the wrong end of a one-wicket thriller against Wests in the previous weekend’s season opener and Danaher felt their performance against Wanderers showed the team’s strong culture.
“I’m just really happy with how everyone’s fighting for our wins,” he said.
“We know it’s not going to come easy, but we still want to be there come finals time so we need to try and win these games now.
“What I thought was pretty awesome was to see Gary go out and bat having broken his thumb.
“I think he’s broken it in five or six spots in the field and he still toughed it out.
“He’s only 18 years old and so he knew that it was pretty important for us and put his body on the line.
“It’s a great atmosphere that we’ve got and a great culture at the club.”
Matthew Ahern (52) and Zac Holm (17) helped Wanderers overcome a shaky start with a 69-run partnership, but Brothers duo Dylan Debenham (3-36) and Justin Rawlins (2-29) led the charge with the ball to have them all out for 149.
Wanderers took consistent wickets in reply with Holm (1-10) claiming the best figures, but they couldn’t keep Heuir in check as he powered Brothers to 5-150 in 35.1 overs.
“We’re going to be leaning pretty heavily on Herbie. He’s one of the best players, if not the best bat, in the comp,” Danaher said.
Meanwhile, defending champions Sub Parks sent an early-season warning to their rivals after demolishing Wests by nine wickets in the grand final rematch at Mick Downey Oval.
Patrick Hagenbach (21) and Wests captain Shaun Curnow (13) laid a solid platform with a 39-run opening stand before Brad Dunn (2-25) removed Curnow and the wickets started to tumble.
Mark Danaher (3-11) and Mitch Burton (3-24) spearheaded the brilliant bowling from Sub Parks as Wests lost 8-19 to end up all out for 94.
In reply, Jack Raffles (1-46) struck early to dismiss opener Jarrod Colliss (9), but Wests couldn’t keep the pressure on as Sub Parks blasted their way to a double bonus point victory.
Sean Danaher (53no) and skipper Mark Taviani (32no) combined for a 76-run stand as Sub Parks chased down the winning runs for the loss of just one wicket in 19.2 overs.