Rivals are ready for a cracking collision

RIVAL coaches Chris Swan and Peter Clifford will face off in a battle for the ages when Gold Coast Dolphins host Toombul in Saturday’s Queensland Premier Cricket Round 8 game at Kerrydale.

Swan, who took 101 firstclass wickets for the Bulls, and later spent a year as the state’s bowling coach, acknowledges former NSW and Queensland batsman Clifford as an invaluable early mentor.

Post-retirement, Clifford played a couple of seasons at Surfers Paradise in the 1990s when Swan was an emerging teenager.

“Any team coached by Cliffo will come at you hard,” said Swan, who scored his first overseas professional gig at Greenock in Scotland thanks to a recommendation from Toombul’s record runmaker.

“Both teams will be looking to play aggressively because we’re both needing a result to push up the ladder,” said Clifford, who captained Australia at under-19 level and is best remembered for a defiant innings of 83 not out which denied his future state their first Sheffield Shield in 1985.

The Dolphins, coming off a gutsy first-innings victory at Sandgate, welcome back quick bowler Kyle Wisniewski and hand a rare senior outing to one-time first-grade skipper Max Houlahan.

Toombul, fielding the youngest line-up in the competition, have been heavily reliant on a potent pace attack. Chris Knight, a nippy 190cm swing bowler, boasts competition-high numbers with 21 wickets to date following his 5-65 in last week’s first-innings win over Ipswich.

Knight is the son of club stalwart Andrew Knight who, along with Clifford, was in the Toombul team which faced the Dolphins when the Gold Coast made their grade debut in 1990.