Spiller fires up his late-run Dragons

‘We’ve got a strong

list on paper but cricket is not won on paper and hopefully everyone pulls their

weight’ BELL PARK’ S JAMIE SPILLER

THEY’VE hardly looked like it all season but suddenly Bell Park can secure a GCA3 finals berth with a win against Little River in the final round of the season.

The Dragons have rocketed into the top six after picking up 22 points in the past three rounds, starting with a crucial outright win over Lethbridge in Round 10.

In a cutthroat final round, the Redbacks can also make the finals if they beat the Dragons and Corio causes an upset over seventh-placed Winchelsea.

“Obviously we’ve got to win to have any chance of playing finals but with this side there’s no reason why we can’t,” Bell Park batsman Jamie Spiller said.

“We’ve got a strong list on paper but cricket is not won on paper and hopefully everyone pulls their weight.

“I don’t think we’ve really played well all year, to be honest, so we can only go up from here. We probably haven’t had a consistent match — we haven’t smashed a side.

“Probably the Lethbridge game was the only match where everything went our way, but other than that, there hasn’t been much. We’ve definitely got improvement left.”

Bell Park saved its season last week after a dramatic finish to its one-day game against Inverleigh.

Defending a modest 159, the Dragons’ season appeared lost when Inverleigh moved to 6-144 with David Peel at the crease.

But the Kookaburras collapsed to lose 4-2 and were all out for 146, handing the Dragons a 13-run win and a place inside the top-six.

All-rounder Jhye Kenna has been one of the Dragons’ most consistent this season, while captain-coach Ash Carter has been the rock of the middle order.

Spiller, who has made 402 runs and also earned selection in the Barwon Rockets under-21 team, will spend the winter playing in North East England at Backworth Cricket Club.

“Hopefully I can come back and hit the ground running,” he said.