Sport
9 February, 2023
Magpies looking for competitive day against Laane
Clunes and Laanecoorie Dunolly will reconvene on Saturday, with the Magpies looking to reduce Laane’s scoring power that yielded 270 runs in their last meeting. The importance of the game has not shifted for either team — Laane will be looking...
Clunes and Laanecoorie Dunolly will reconvene on Saturday, with the Magpies looking to reduce Laane’s scoring power that yielded 270 runs in their last meeting.
The importance of the game has not shifted for either team — Laane will be looking to keep their unbeaten streak alive, while an upset win for Clunes could all but secure their spot in the finals.
With the game reduced to 40 overs per team, Laane’s recent knock against the Magpies in December will be fresh in both teams minds.
Laane have carried a rich vein of scoring form over to the two-day game over the last month.
Firstly, their impressive 269 against Maryborough was scored in just 66 overs, while they were even more impressive in their batting stint against Beaufort, scoring 225 runs from just 36 overs as they tried, but failed, to score an outright victory.
Much of their work has been attributed to Samit Gohil, but that would be a disservice to most of Laane’s batting lineup, which has stood up when needed throughout the season.
In recent weeks, it’s been Matt Smith’s time to shine with the bat. After making 49 in his first two-day outing against the Owls, he followed that up with 50 against the Crows, and as a result, enjoys the second-highest average in the league this season at 76.5, sitting behind Gohil’s astronomical 143.3. Benjamin Gunn and Tom Hannett will also be looking for more runs this weekend, having scored 70 and 50 respectively in their last meeting with the Magpies.
Laane’s bowling quartet of Gunn, Joe Lovel, Gohil and Daniel Romeo will also take some beating tomorrow, with all four bowlers currently sitting in the top 11 wicket-takers in the competition.
It’s a vastly different story for Clunes, who will be looking to take wickets at a quick rate tomorrow — something which they are still looking to achieve for the first time in a while.
They will no doubt be disappointed that they were unable to take advantage of a competitive first innings performance with the bat against Maryborough, but now have a chance to bounce back tomorrow.
Riley Coppick has been their most productive bowler this season to this point, taking six wickets, taking two of them in their last meeting with Laane, but also at the cost of 59 runs.
However, he had a solid outing against the Owls against the tide, proving to be one of their more consistent bowlers, finishing with respectable figures of 1/36 from 11 overs.
Noah Davies was another who enjoyed a solid outing with the ball in their first two-day game, albeit finishing wicketless. From six overs, he was able to nullify the Owls scoring power the most of the nine bowlers the Magpies tried, conceding just 15 runs.
From Clunes’ batting department, they will be suffering a blow with Mark Allen to miss this game, but will also be looking to Anthony Ellis and Mitchell Coppick to pick up the slack — particularly given Coppick’s impressive form against the Owls, where he finished with 57.
If they are able to have the likes of Aidan Thompson and Ashley Gunn join the party with the bat tomorrow, look for this game to be more competitive than both teams’ respective records suggests.