INJURIES TAKE TOLL ON RINGERS
ONE of the Mendi Tropical Big Bash’s more inexperienced bowling line-ups has been dealt a double blow on the injury front, but it has not deterred the confidence of Reldas Ringers coach Sam Collingwood.
The Ringers, who looked in for a horror opening weekend of the tournament after they were reduced to 5-14 in their first game against Wildcatz Indoor Sports, emerged with a 1-1 record to start the tournament.
Their bowling attack, which looks light on compared to opposition sides, punched well above its weight class on Sunday to restrict a strong Gold City Bulls line-up to 5-102.
It proved easy pickings for the class of the Ringers’ batting line-up who chased it down with five wickets in hand and two overs to spare.
But the win could have come at a major cost for the Ringers who lost young quick Dylan Debenham to a groin injury while Brad Stout appears unlikely to bowl again in the tournament after sustaining ligament damage in his shoulder.
It will put pressure on Collingwood to come up with answers as the Ringers aim to continue their form into next weekend.
“We bowled to our field and we bowled to our plans in that second game,” Collingwood said.
“We have a pretty diverse bowling attack. There are not too many big names but we have different paces and different spin options and everyone just did their job.
“I think we have a really good batting line-up, but bowling wise we have Squizza (Stephen Taylor) but we haven’t got the Dickos (Justin
Dixon) or the Justin Rawlins. We have a young bowling line-up.”
The Ringers will welcome Brothers’ genuine wicket taker Hayden Searle into their line-up next weekend, but Collingwood will need to find someone to bowl out Stout’s four overs.
“We have got some options up our sleeve,” Collingwood said. “It is good to have that like for like replacement with Searle coming in for Debenham, and that makes our batting even longer.”
The opening weekend of the Tropical Big Bash saw two half centuries with Craig Mcelligott and Chris Stanger showing their class with the bat while Gold City Bulls marquee man Sam Lowry finished on 49 not out when they successfully chased down Lions’ total of 132 on Saturday.
Out of the four games on the opening weekend three were won by the chasing side.
The EV2 Lions were the only side to win after batting in the first innings after they restricted Wildcatz Indoor Sports to 7-98 after setting them a chase of 7-130.
“I think in longer format having runs on the board helps, but in T20s most teams like to chase,” Collingwood said.
Wildcatz skipper Andrew Boyle had the best individual figures over the weekend with 4-6 in their opening clash against Reldas Ringers.