Prowess: Waaia’s Brayden Carey will be one to watch as the stakes rise this weekend.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
The main event of this weekend’s Cricket Shepparton Haisman Shield proceedings is a heavyweight clash at Deakin Reserve.
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The following two Saturdays will be a high-powered affair between a Central Park-St Brendan’s side (7-2) that steered back on course last weekend with a straightforward win over Karramomus and a ladder-leading Waaia unit (7-1) that stands alone as the league’s offensive benchmark.
Brayden Carey is undoubtedly the danger man across the next fortnight after posting a fast and furious century for which Euroa had almost no answer last weekend.
Waaia’s Mitch Cleeland will look for all hands on deck as a significant challenge looms.
“Most games at the minute, especially at this end of the season, are crucial and extremely important, but even more so when you’re playing another top two or three team,” Cleeland said.
“(Central Park is) always a good side and probably somewhat of a competition benchmark.
“We’ll go in wary of how strong they are and we’re expecting a really close and hard-fought game.
“Brayden will be looking forward to the occasion and he likes batting on Deakin’s wicket, but we’re not just relying on him.
“We have a lot of guys willing to stand up and take the opportunity.”
There will be zero room for complacency in the travelling Waaia side for this affair.
With that said, aiming too high is also something Cleeland hopes won’t creep into Bomber minds as the tie goes on.
“Our main aim is just to ensure we’re winning as many games as we possibly can,” Cleeland said.
“We want to ensure the original amount of points for ourselves and anything from there is a bonus.
“We’ll just try and stay with our winning formula.”
There are no currently forecast issues across the Haisman Shield at press time as river estimates continue to fluctuate in the Shepparton area.
As such, Cleeland remains hopeful of not only taking the contest on as advertised, but preserving a high-quality Deakin wicket.
“We don’t get to play there all that often, so it’ll be a little bit different,” Cleeland said.
“Typically, the wicket’s pretty good there, so we’re expecting that to be the same.
“We’ve been okay with the bats so far, but it takes on more significance when you’re playing the top sides.
“If we win, we can skip away a bit, but we’re right back in the pack if we lose, so we’re very excited by the challenge.”
Workhorse: Central Park’s Jarrod Wakeling has put innings on his back many a time with the ball.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
Of course, one must concede that Waaia’s last and next opponents are in vastly different positions regarding the restriction of runs.
The Tigers will have their work cut out for them and then some against the most prolific run-scoring outfit in the Haisman Shield to this stage.
Four Bombers have already reached the 200-run plateau, while only one other club in the competition has even recorded two batters at the milestone.
However, Central Park boasts one of the more potent bowling units in the region and the competition’s flagship club has already put in one 20-wicket shift in the two-day format this season.
Sustaining their side’s dominance is the veteran duo of Jarrod Wakeling (21 wickets) and Dwain Vidler (18), who have taken more combined scalps than any other pair across the league.
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