A Locke to deliver
Kookaburras’ quick keen go one better this season
AT the end of last season, Inverleigh’s Locke Perrett came home with a wet sail in the BPCA A2’s wickets tally.
His feats coincided with his side’s emphatic finish, knocking off a feared Winchelsea in the semi-final before falling at the ultimate hurdle.
Both Perrett’s and the Kookaburras’ starts to this season have been much like how they left off.
Sitting well clear at the top of the ladder — desperate to make up for last season’s grand final loss — Perrett’s proficiency with the ball has continued.
“It was obviously devastating to lose last year in the grand final to Queenscliff,” Perrett said. “It’s given us more hunger this year. I have just tried to bowl with better line and length.”
The searing fast bowler is used in a calculated manner by captain Lockie Platt and it has worked to good effect, having taken 16 wickets to go with his 32 from last season.
Somewhat of a finisher, Perrett is armed with the challenge of dismissing the league’s most dangerous middle-order batters before being asked to clean up an often unassuming tail.
“I see my (role) as basically to just bowl at the stumps,” he said.
“I’m pretty fortunate in the sense that Matt Spiller and Murphy Walker do all of the hard work and then Lockie (Platt) usually throws me the ball.
“I put myself in the position that if I’m batting early, what do I hate facing? And that’s anything pitched up and full.”
Buoyed by a string of wins, Inverleigh will face its toughest test today against a St Leonards side whose form is arguably just as strong.
Still motivated by last season’s missed promotion opportunity, Perrett said he was well aware how important early wins were for a top-two finish.
“To finish top-two or top of the ladder, not being arrogant but you’re probably the best team in the league. That’s something we’re striving for,” he said.
Inverleigh is well on the way — already 12 points and percentage clear of the secondplaced Saints — and is the only team yet to lose this season.
And in an ominous warning to rival teams, there is plenty of growth for Inverleigh to be had with the bat, according to Perrett.
“Last year’s Ian Caldwell medallist (David Peel) hasn’t made a run,” he said.
“With the likes of him and a few others, there’s still so much we can improve on.
“We’ve been lucky that our bowlers have been so good that our batters haven’t had to chase a big target yet.”