LJ Hooker League: Wrap, results, standouts from round four

Some of the competition’s up-and-coming stars, including a 15-year-old gun, took the spotlight during a big weekend in the LJ Hooker League.

15-year-old Cooper Scully scored an impressive half-century for the Casino Cavaliers in round four. Picture: supplied

The Casino Cavaliers have bounced back from a last-start loss with an impressive five-wicket win over Alstonville at Queen Elizabeth Park in round four of the LJ Hooker League.

Chasing 216 for victory, the highest total in a round dominated by the ball, the Cavaliers made it look easy as they went past the score inside 52 overs with five wickets in the shed.

“The pitch at Casino is pretty batter-friendly at the moment with the weather and the way it’s been, so we were finding it hard to break through their batting but we seemed to cruise to their total with a bit of ease,” said Casino president and first grade player Corey Latta.

In a positive sign for the Cavaliers, 15-year-old opener Miller Scully top scored for the side with an entertaining 59 from 52 balls in what was the highest score across the round.

It was a strong overall batting performance from the side, with skipper Damian Vidler finishing unbeaten on 48, while nightwatchman Jed Mulcahy (41) and Oliver Walker (35) also got starts.

The victory moved Casino in fourth place on the ladder. Picture: supplied

And although the team did lose 3-1 midway through its chase, the home side never looked in serious trouble as it chased down the total comfortably to claim its second win of the season.

“There was a little period in the middle there where we lost three for one run and fell away a bit. But Damian (Vidler) and Ollie Walker went out, steadied it, got us back on track and basically finished it off for us,” said Latta.

The win saw the team bounce back after a disappointing loss to the Tweed Banora Colts in round three and takes Casino into fourth place with a record of two wins, one defeat and one no-result from the first four rounds.

“We’re progressing alright, there’s still a lot of improvement to be made,” said Latta.

“We’re looking for a little more consistency with our bowling, and our batting came a long way from our game against Tweed where we seemed to be very impatient, whereas against Alstonville we just picked and chose the balls to play,” he added.

“Every team in the comp is a fair danger. Even teams down the bottom can turn up on the day and surprise you a bit. But the top two, Cudgen and Marist Brothers, are definitely starting to separate themselves a bit, but hopefully with a few more wins we can stick around in the four and give it a good go at the end of the year.”

While Latta is fairly pleased with where the side is sitting after four rounds, there is another factor that has him confident the team can continue to improve throughout the season.

“The young guys are definitely standing up,” he said.

This was highlighted by 15-year-old Scully’s impressive 59 at the top of the order over the weekend.

“He scored a half-century in not much time at all and definitely showed more promise,” said Latta.

“Alstonville have a pretty handy bowling line-up with Terry Murphy and the young Barnes boys. They’re pretty gifted players in themselves, so for him to stand up and perform under pressure against some decent bowlers is really, really good to see. It means that the training he’s doing and the work we’re putting into him is starting to pay off.”

Oliver Walker was once again impressive for the Cavaliers. Picture: supplied

In addition to his 41 as a nightwatchman, young quick Jed Mulcahy has been impressive with the ball so far this season, taking four wickets against Alstonville last weekend, while all-rounder Oliver Walker has been a standout for the side over the first four rounds.

The 17-year-old has top scored for his side in two of his four digs so far this season, piling on 158 runs at 39.5 to be the second-highest runscorer in the competition, behind another young gun in Marist Brothers’ 16-year-old star Joe Parsons.

“He’s been good with the bat and the ball,” said Latta. “He’s actually been a bit unlucky with the ball, where he’s been good and very consistent but hasn’t taken too many wickets, while he has come a long way with his batting. He’s probably the standout at the moment.”

In other games, Marist Brothers and Cudgen continued their perfect starts to the season with comfortable wins over the Colts and Tintenbar-East Ballina, respectively, Lennox Head saw off Murwillumbah by 26 runs for the Pirates’ second win of the season while Gonnellabah narrowly missed out on outright points against Pottsville.

Having gone past the Pelicans’ first innings total of 117 last weekend, Gonnellabah was chasing 144 in its second innings at Seabreeze Oval. Despite getting off to a strong start, the team was slowed down by the fall of quick wickets and finished 31 runs short with three wickets in hand at the end of play.