After being bowled out for 82 against North Geelong, St Peters captain and coach Luke Ford needed a response from his young team in the Geelong Cricket Association Division 1 round 6 clash against Lara.
And that response came in the form of paceman James Stokes on day one.
Stokes took 7/42 from 19 overs to help dismiss Lara for 113 and at stumps the Saints were cruising at 1/96 before going on to bat all afternoon on day two to finish on 9/292.
Ford said Stokes’ effort on the opening day set the tone for a huge rebound win.
“He’s in the form of his life at the minute, Jim,” he said.
“He’s worked hard, he’s worked his bum off to reap the rewards, but we’re all pretty keen to sit behind him at the blackjack table, I think, in the next week or so. He just couldn’t miss his lines, he couldn’t miss his lengths.
“He’s taken on a new role this year, taking the new ball and credit to him. He works hard, so he deserves everything he gets at the minute.”
Ford said the response after being mostly dominated by North Geelong in round 5 was pleasing.
“We spoke about it straight after the North Geelong game that we wanted to have a goldfish memory – just forget about it,” he said.
“Those games happen, albeit it’s happened twice now against North Geelong, but it’s still early in the season and we had to bounce back. “We’ve got a bunch of guys who know how to win as well and win in big moments.
“So to bounce back and bounce back straight away, it’s promising for us.”
Ford said he never contemplated attempting an outright victory on day two. Instead he opted to give his batting order some much-needed practice in the middle.
Oliver Trewin took his overnight score from 56 to 77 from 186 deliveries while Ford himself made 64 from 104 and Brad McMaster scored 43 from 74 in the middle order.
But it was the opportunity given to the likes of Jack Trewin (27 off 43 balls) and Stokes (23 not out from 26) down the order that made the decision not to pursue an unlikely outright pretty easy.
“Whenever a side gets bowled out cheaply the first time, nine times out of ten they come out in the second dig and they’re none for eighty and you go ‘well, that was a waste of time’,” Ford said.
“We still had to get 17 runs, that was our main priority. We have guys at six, seven, eight that needed a hit. We want these guys in form as well.
“So we made it clear from the start that we’re going to bat deep and bat all day, like we’re batting first on day one.
“Jack Trewin is batting lower than what he should be as well. And credit to Jack, he’s an all-rounder who could bat five and six and to get 20 or 30 was promising.
“That’s the perfect way to go about it to get these guys a bat because we might need them come the back end of the year to get another score like that for us.”
PACEMAN Austin Humphrey delivered a devastating five-wicket haul to help St Joseph’s to a win against Grovedale and climbed to third on the ladder. Humphrey took 5/58 from 23.4 overs to have the Tigers all out for 237 in reply to Joeys’ 7/292. Brayden Engelen-Baker (58) and Michael McNeel (52) made half-centuries for Grovedale, but it was Humphrey’s day and the quick now has 10 wickets for the season.
NEEDING 45 to win with nine wickets in hand, North Geelong strolled past South Barwon’s day-one score of 117 with ease. Phil Visser (61) added 18 to his overnight score of 43 while Ned Cooper (47) made a further 26 runs. The Magpies opted for batting practice after passing the total three wickets down with Alistair McCann (45) and Tom Mathieson (27) spending time at the crease while pace bowler Sam Ellis was lion-hearted for South Barwon with 3/75 from 25 overs.
EAST Belmont resumed at 2/96 chasing Newtown & Chilwell’s 215 all out and took full command of the game, finishing on 5/303.
James Lidgett made 85 and Luke Inglis scored 57 while Devon Winsall (38 not out), Hayden McMahon (32) and Lachlan Inglis (24 not out) enjoyed some time in the middle.
