Tahs’ skipper eyes a playing return in finals
WARATAH skipper Isaac Conway is eyeing a return in the first week of the Darwin Premier Grade finals after recovering from a broken finger in his left hand.
Conway chipped the bone in the little finger and tore ligaments in a work accident in mid-July, consigning him to a role as spectator in the Tahs’ past four premiership matches and ruled him out of the Strike League competition.
“I got it stuck on the bucket on the back of a tractor and jammed the little finger between two bits of steel,” he said.
“It chipped the bone and damaged ligaments attached to it, even if it didn’t hurt too much at the time.
“But the next day it started to hurt and that’s when I went and got it checked out.
“I had it in a splint for two weeks until I had to get an X-ray when it wasn’t healing properly.”
Conway hopes to have two pins removed from the damaged region on Monday in a bid to be fit for the knockout semi-final.
But it will be a race against time, rating his chances of pulling on the wicketkeeping gloves and opening the batting as a “50-50 chance”.
“It’s been a tough time watching a lot of cricket,’’ he said. “I haven’t played for six weeks and have missed something like four games.
“I haven’t gone this long without playing or picking up a cricket bat since I was a young fellow, probably 14 or 15 years of age. So I’m pretty hungry to get out there and score some runs.’’
Better news for Conway is the form of the reigning premiers, with Tahs on top of the ladder and heading into the finals with a head of steam.
“Hopefully we can take that momentum into the finals and come away with a win and back-to-back flags,’’ he said.