Bears rack up cricket scores

A SCORELINE of 147-4 is one you’d expect to see in The Ashes this winter. But in this instance, it reveals the complete and utter dominance of Burleigh across their past three Intrust Super Cup starts.

The Bears backed up 56-4 and 48-0 wins over Papua New Guinea and Redcliffe respectively by thrashing the Northern Pride 43-0 in Cairns on Saturday night.

“Yeah, it’s OK,” coach Jimmy Lenihan said in typically reserved fashion.

“They are probably sides that have been struggling a bit at this point in the season with where they are on the ladder so you don’t want to get too carried away. I still think that there is stuff that we have got to look at trying to improve.”

Lenihan pointed to an upcoming three-match run against frontrunning sides Sunshine Coast, Easts and Norths as a true test of where they are at.

Burleigh led the Pride by 19 at the break and stacked on another five tries in the second half to celebrate Jamal Fogarty’s 100th Intrust Super Cup match.

“When we have those milestone games, it’s important that the group play in a way that is fitting to show them that they are respected in the side,” Lenihan said.

Fogarty, who started his ISC tenure at Tweed before cocaptaining Burleigh to the 2016 premiership, was pleased to end a three-game head-tohead losing streak against the Pride.

“We definitely spoke about it: No matter if they are going really awesome or really terrible, they have been a bogy team for us,” he said.

The 25-year-old halfback said simplifying every player’s role in the team had been behind their recent run of form and put his own consistency across 100 appearances down to his off-field efforts.

“I try to prepare well,” he said. “Whether that is switching off for football and doing some mindfulness stuff … I just try to keep myself healthy physically and mentally.”

Earlier on Saturday, Tweed took their third straight victory in accounting for Easts 16-4 at Langlands Park. Five-eighth Luke Jurd suffered a hamstring injury, which will probably see Lindon McGrady move from fullback back to the No.6 jersey.