NMCA 2020-21: Joel Kolep leads Northern Socials to win over Cobras

Captain Joel Kolep was in red-hot form as Northern Socials claimed their first win of the NMCA Jika Shield season.

Northern Socials skipper Joel Kolep led from the front. Picture: Supplied

Northern Socials captain Joel Kolep delivered a superb all-round performance to spearhead his team’s thumping 137-run victory over Cobras in North Metro Cricket Association Jika Shield on Saturday.

The home side won the toss and elected to bat at W Ruthven VC Reserve and despite being just 2-16 early, the Socials’ middle order of Kolep (66) Siddharth Singh (50) and Charith Sudaraka (74) lifted their score to 7-215 after their 40 overs.

Cobras started the run chase strongly and were 0-40 after five overs before Kolep dismantled their batting line-up.

The leg-spinner picked up incredible figures of 6-12 to secure his side’s first win of the season as Cobras were rolled for 78.

“It was a really good team performance. The first couple of games probably didn’t go our way despite giving ourselves an opportunity to win it in both of those games, but it’s good to get one on the board and kick-start our season off,” Kolep said.

“We always expect to win, that’s the mentality we’ve got, but was really pleasing to see us do the basics well enough for most of the game.”

After missing the first game of the season against Rivergum because of work commitments, Kolep has been a significant performer in his two appearances.

He has seven wickets at an average of seven (the third best average in Jika Shield) and 103 runs at 51.50 (fourth best).

Kolep claimed Quick Shield’s highest individual honour in 2019-20 after logging 623 runs at 44.5 and 41 wickets at 10.8.

The all-rounder was pleased to play a key role in Saturday’s win, despite originally deciding not to bowl due to a shoulder injury he suffered in February this year.

“Last week was probably my first hit of the year and I was a bit rusty but not too bad, then on Saturday, I was I was just feeling really comfortable out there,” Kolep said.

“I respected the good balls, but I am an aggressive player, so I like to put the opposition on the back foot while I’m batting, and that helps the rest of the team.

“I wasn’t even supposed to be bowling on Saturday because of my injury, but it just seemed like the Cobras liked a bit of pace coming on the ball, especially from our opening bowlers.

“So I made a pretty early decision in about the sixth over to just take some pace off the ball with me and Sean Newitt from the seconds coming into the attack, and they just struggled. I’m not sure why, but it just turned the game.”

The weekend marked the first time this season that Kolep, Singh and Sudaraka were in the same side, with the three of them contributing 190 of the Socials’ total of 215.

Kolep highlighted the confidence he has in his middle order to ensure the runs keep ticking.

“The first two games probably didn’t pan out the way we wanted … but once our middle order gets going, I’m pretty confident we will bat out 40 overs most of the time,” he said.

“I always like to try and be only two or three wickets down by drinks … then it gives us that platform to get on with it in the last 20 overs and our middle order can do what they need to do in order to get a good score on the board.”

Northern Socials will next tackle Keon Park, who they were due to play in the 2019-20 Quick Shield decider before the coronavirus pandemic forced an early end to the season.

Many eyes will be peeled towards middle-order batsman and Keon Park recruit Alex Williamson, who faces his former club for the first time.

“We’re really keen to play them now, especially after what happened last year with there being no grand final and no premiership team,” Kolep said.

“(Williamson) is also a bit of a motivational boost for us but we’ll just focus on ourselves. I’ve already told the boys to not get into a slanging match against them, it’s not worth it, we’ll just worry about what we do.

“If we do everything right ourselves, we don’t have to worry about what the opposition do or say, and we should get the result that we want from it.”

In other results, Keon Park will be hungry to bounce back after falling to Heidelberg West by three wickets, while Preston Baseballers remain the only undefeated side in the competition after claiming victory over Rivergum by 11 runs.

Cameron won its first game of 2020-21, defeating Holy Trinity by 45 runs.