BALLARAT-REDAN v MT CLEAR
at City Oval on Saturday
Round 3
Two-day match – first day
LAST TIME THEY MET:
ROUND 10 LAST SEASON:
Ballarat-Redan 9-200 (R Allan 44, J Hayes 43; N Yates 3-60) d Mt Clear 197 (J Burns 44; S Allan 5-40)
THIS SEASON:
BALLARAT-REDAN (6TH)
MT CLEAR (3rd)
BALLARAT-Redan will unleash recruit Brendan Thomson on Mt Clear in their Ballarat Cricket Association firsts round three encounter.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The former Napoleons-Sebastopol spearhead is returning to the BCA after a season with Smythesdale in the Grenville Cricket Association.
The Two Swords believe Thomson, who was cleared on Thursday night, can be the X-factor to launch them back into the finals.
Ballarat-Redan captain coach Bobby Hind, who is in his second season at Alfredton, said with batting having been their strength they had gone out to bolster their frontline pace attack
He said Thomson would provide the perfect partner for Simon Allan.
‘It’ll give us a formidable attack.”
Unfortunately for Ballarat-Redan though, it will have to wait at least one round before reaping the benefits of the Allan-Thomson combination.
Allan is out after straining a groin last week.
He said it was better to give him time off to get fully fit again rather than have Allan do more damage and miss a sizeable part of the season.
Toby Hutt will also miss as a result of being unavailable for one of the two days, but crucially Hind is back.
Hind missed Ballarat-Redan’s second round loss to Brown Hill owing to him being unavailable for the second day, but had valuable time in the middle with a double century in the seconds.
Hind said Thomson would add a real edge to Ballarat-Redan’s bowling line-up.
He said Thomson was one the better pace bowlers he had faced over the years.
“He has enormous experience. He’s played in grand finals. And he’s still bowling quick and accurate.‘
Hind and Mt Clear skipper Nathan Yates, as do their counterparts across the first X1 competition, know the importance of getting their noses in front in the win-loss ratio early in the season.
Ballarat-Redan sits on 1-1 after playing last year’s grand finalists in the opening two rounds.
While Hind would prefer to be unbeaten, he said “we have played two of the best”.
‘It’s been a best test so far and this is another.”
Hind said a big plus had been making 200-plus in each of the opening two games. He said Ballarat-Redan also had the benefit of having played both games on turf – something not all teams had had done.
Mt Clear has an unblemished record against teams yet to win.
Yates said while the wins had been ”ugly” and anything but convincing, the points are on the board.
The Mounties lose Daniel Hopkinson.
– DAVID BREHAUT