It may seem like an early declaration, but last season’s Eurobodalla Cricket grand finalists Cavaliers and Tigers have suggested they may be this season’s grand finalists after their crushing victories on Saturday.
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Bouncing back from their stunning loss to Tuross Head the previous Saturday, Cavaliers demolished Dalmeny by eight wickets at Hanging Rock.
Cavaliers’ batsman Elliott Wain said the result reflected the comprehensive nature of the Cavaliers’ performance, especially when they bowled out Dalmeny for 64.
“We bowled very well and didn’t put down any catches,” he said.
Cavaliers had Dalmeny at 5-54 at drinks and finished their innings off shortly after.
Wain singled out bowlers Nathan Blackburn and Matt Sethi for praise.
“Matt bowled extremely well and is fast becoming one of our most important bowlers this season,” he said.
“He applies pressure and the others aren’t able to get hold of him.”
Wain said the Hanging Rock pitch behaved well and didn’t play a big part in the result.
“It was slow but consistent in its pace,” he said.
The previous week’s loss to battling Tuross was just what Cavaliers needed, according to Wain.
“It refocused us,” he said. “A lot of our younger blokes got a reality check that if you don’t turn up, you are going to get beaten.”
It isn’t going to get any easier for Dalmeny tomorrow, as they are up against Tigers, who had a similarly comprehensive win over Tuross at Surfside last Saturday.
Tigers hit 281 and Tuross Head replied with only 120.
“We still haven’t had a full side on the field, but that was as close as we have had to it,” captain Paul Gallen said.
Gallen was dismissed in the first over for four - “Everyone got runs except me.”
Gavin Smart’s 77 and Mick Smart’s 54 not out ensured that this didn’t matter too much.
Luke Bell was also effective with bat and ball in his first game of the season for the Tigers.
The good news for Dalmeny is that with Gavin Smart’s wedding on this weekend, he, his brother and Matt Hancock won’t be available for the Tigers.
However, Gallen isn’t too concerned.
“We’ll cover it with B graders, and we’ll be fine,” he said.
Tuross Head get their chance to bounce back against Broulee at Kyla Park, but captain Nick Mason knows a similar performance to the one against Tigers won’t suffice.
“We went into that game with the wrong mindset,” he said.
“The Tigers got on a roll with their hitters, and they kept going. When we batted, we tried to score quickly before settling ourselves.”
Mason said his team would field a good line-up for the turf wicket, and could turn it around against Broulee if they played like they did against Cavaliers.
“That day everybody did their bit, and that’s how we want to play cricket,” he said.
Broulee will be hunting for their first win since their round two victory over Dalmeny, and captain Mitchell Wales knows where his team needs to improve in order to get it.
“We got 100 runs on the weekend, which was our highest score all year, and it’s just not enough,” he said.
“We’ve got a team full of bowlers.”
Wales believes his team needs to get mentally tougher when batting.
“We’ve got a young side and we don’t have our head screwed on. We need to hold our heads out there and not get down so much if we lose an early wicket.”
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