Cricket: inclusions boost for East Ballarat

QUALITY inclusions have sharpened East Ballarat.Former North Melbourne premier cricket all-rounder Michael Kuiper and young batsman Brad Whittaker headline East selections this week in the Ballarat Cricket Association firsts.Opposing Napoleons-Sebastopol captain Daniel Scott said his team would needs to lift its game with the bat if it was to challenge East in the two-day clash starting tomorrow.Solid batting has been the focus in at Naps-Sebas after its tally was comfortably eclipsed by the big-hitting Brown Hill in the opening round.There will be no reprieve for Naps-Sebas, who are likely to face more of the same from East at Russell Square."As far as we're concerned we cost ourselves when we couldn't bat out our overs," Scott said."The whole order, myself included, needs to work harder to give our bowlers a chance."We've got to make the most of building on those 10s and 20s tallies and cash in."Especially on a ground like that, you've got to keep focus up - just because you might get a few easy runs, doesn't mean you can afford to lose concentration."Scott has called on his top-order to particularly work harder in anchoring the innings. Batting recruit Jarrod Burns was the only top-four batsman to make an impact last round with 54 runs.East too, is looking to improve after struggling to find momentum against Wendouree at Russell Square.Kuiper and Whittaker should bolster the line-up, which has also been strengthened with the return of starting wicketkeeper Tim Rieniets.Left arm medium-pace bowler Yousef Aleem is a handy replacement for East opening bowler Brad Hallam who, with top-order batsman Carl Haseloff, is unavailable this round.East captain Simon Irving said his team was determined to improve on its campaign start and get a win."We're keen to get a few things back in place from last week and see how we go," he said.