Hornets all-rounder defying troublesome injury to keep team bowling along
As Cricket Ipswich’s top three sides secured impressive first-up wins over their Toowoomba opponents, the Ipswich Hornets were also building some handy momentum led by a valuable cricketer.
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As Cricket Ipswich’s top three Division 1 sides secured impressive first-up wins over their Toowoomba opponents, the Ipswich Hornets were also building some handy momentum led by a valuable cricketer.
Hornets all-rounder Harry Wood took 4/16 off eight overs before posting 53 after two recent centuries in the Queensland Premier Grade one-day competition.
The Hornets finished the first day’s play at Baxter Oval on 4/136 having dismissed Toombul for 202.
“It was a bit of a mixed day,’’ Wood said.
“We were pretty disappointed with probably the first hour of the game but we managed to fight ourselves back into the game.
“Adam Smith (2/48) and Toppie (Michael Topp with 2/22) really started us off well in the second session.
“It was one of those wickets where it probably suited the seam bowlers.’’
Losing two late wickets also left the Hornets with some work to do to secure points after their previous two-day match against the Gold Coast was a draw due to wet weather issues.
After being frustrated unable to bowl all of last season with tendinitis in his knee, Wood had a decent break before preparing for the new season.
“I’m happy with how they are coming out,’’ he said, after his best two-day competition haul in some time.
“I made a couple of little technical changes over the off-season but still kind of battling fitness a little bit.
“The body is not great to be honest.’’
Although his tendinitis issues have eased, Wood is now dealing with shin splints.
“It’s just one of those ones you’ve just got to manage,’’ said Wood, who turns 23 in December.
“I still haven’t had the bowling load that I need but that will come throughout the season.’’
He was pleased to have made some positive innings with the bat.
“It’s nice to start well,’’ he said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever started a season better in past seasons.
“I tend to finish well so it’s been good to fly out of the blocks.’’
Wood praised Smith’s commitment and was pleased to see Topp progress from second grade last season to take his top division opportunity.
“Every time Toppie comes up, he certainly contributes,’’ Wood said. “He’s a really valuable member of this group.
“We are really two-day focused now so we’ll get a decent run of two-day cricket for a while before we go back into Twenty20 cricket before Christmas.
“I think two-day cricket is our best format with both the ball and the bat.
“We finished really well last season but we left ourselves a lot to do.’’
Great early efforts from Ipswich sides
In the first round of the new-look Harding-Madsen Shield one-day series, Cricket Ipswich Division 1 teams Laidley, Centrals and Thunder sent an early warning to their Toowoomba rivals.
Laidley overpowered Met Easts on a tricky wicket, Centrals upstaged defending champions Wests and Thunder crushed an understrength Northern Brothers Diggers side from Toowoomba.
Laidley skipper Alex Welsh summed up the situation perfectly as intercity rivals brace for another series of hard fought encounters in coming weeks.
“It’s great for those Ipswich teams,’’ Welsh said.
“Looking at the Brothers Diggers line-up, they were missing a fair few players but hats off to Thunder. That was a great result.
“An absolutely phenomenal result from Centrals to beat Wests. Good on them.
“I think a lot of people are of the opinion that the Toowoomba sides are stronger than the Ipswich sides so it is nice to have a weekend like that yesterday.
“That’s three pretty big results in the top division.’’
Met Easts (8/169) batted first on a different Bichel Oval wicket affected by a Thursday night storm.
First change bowler Craig Crack took 3/35 with spinners Welsh (3/38) and Ben O’Connell (2/37) keeping the visitors in check.
“Both teams were a bit rusty,’’ Welsh said.
“You could tell it was an early season game. A few catches went down.
“It was a difficult wicket to bat on.
“We had a lot of rain go through on Thursday night and couldn’t get the covers on. It (the wicket hardened up) but it was probably not as good as it normally is.’’
With the ball doing plenty early, the batsmen had to work hard early to get established.
The Blue Dogs dug in with opener Laurence Pratt making a valuable 30 before evergreen Mick Sippel guided his team home with 38 not out.
Pratt has joined the Laidley top side having captained the club’s victorious second grade team last season.
“We were very happy with the win, ’’ Welsh said. “It was a good start for us.’’
However, with some players having weekend work commitments, Welsh was keen to maintain as much stability as possible in the Laidley side.
“Consistency is going to be our biggest challenge,’’ he said.
Centrals also fired a valuable first shot in opening up the annual 45 over competition.
The Kookaburras joined a rare list of teams able to beat the traditionally strong Wests combination.
Batting first, Centrals posted 9/219 with Caleb Risson making 54, Charlton Utz contributing 42 and Geoff Klease adding a valuable 32 not out late in the innings.
Fast bowler Klease then chipped in with 2/37 along with dependable Centrals opener Rhys O’Sullivan, who returned the same figures.
Utz also took two wickets as Centrals restricted Wests to 7/191 in Toowoomba.
Marburg Mt Crosby Thunder made light work of their Toowoomba opponents, bowling Northern Brothers out for just 54 in 13.1 overs. Thunder overhauled the total in 16.3 overs.
The destroyer for Thunder was Raymond Coleman, who returned the incredible figures of 6/9 off four overs.
Redbacks put early bite on Railways
In the Division 2 competition, the South East Redbacks were the only Ipswich-based side to win an opening game.
The Redbacks (5/231) needed 39.5 overs to successfully overhaul Highfields Railways’ 228 total in Toowoomba.
Tom Hughes led the way with the ball, snaring 3/19 off his 10 overs.
Northsiders (168) went down to University (194) despite captain Nick Verrenkamp’s 51 batting at number four.
Mitchell Harsant (4/29) and Dom Salton (3/51) earlier bowled well to keep the home side to a modest total.
Southern Districts (4/191) overhauled Brothers (8/187) in their match in Toowoomba.
Brent Gill was Brothers top scorer with 42.
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