Geelong Cricket Association Division 2 resumes on Saturday 10 January and Justin Flynn assessed the state of play so far.
Bell Park (ladder 1st, points 44.89)
With Nikhil Deep Pottabathini coming in at No 3 or 4, the Dragons have a genuine match-winner who has 458 runs at 91.60. The left-hander has two centuries, including a whirlwind 173 from 127 balls in the final Saturday before the break.
Bell Park has three of the top five run scorers in the competition with Jamie Spiller (363 runs at 51.86) and opener Sam Elliston-Buckley (295 runs at 42.14) forming a lethal top three with Pottabathini.
Bailey Kelly (12 wickets), Pottabathini (10) and Mitch Trask (10) have chipped in with the ball.
The Dragons have a favourable fixture from here on and the final game against Highton could decide the minor premiership.
Highton (2nd, 44.84)
The Heat face top-four sides Leopold and Geelong City to start the new year. The fixture then opens up with a run of games Highton will start favourites before a beauty against Bell Park in the final game.
Leg-spinner Fionn Neeson has taken 17 wickets and his 6/26 in the penultimate round before the break could be a sign of things to come for the youngster.
Zac Wills (363 runs at 60.50), Lewis Campbell (260 at 43.33) and James Gillard (233 at 38.83) have all played well so far.
Leopold (3rd, 32.64)
Hayden Butterworth’s 322 runs at 46.00 has been promising, but you get the feeling that the former Geelong champion has another gear to move into.
Tom Treble and Robbie O’Donnell have each made 186 runs so far, but the Lions need more runs to challenge the two top sides.
Paceman Declan Gibson has 13 wickets and left-arm finger spinner O’Donnell has had a fine all-round season with 12.
Leopold’s fixture is good although meetings against Highton and Bell Park will determine whether it can grab a top two spot.
Geelong City (4th, 32.30)
Back-to-back wins before the break has the Sharks sitting in the top four.
New-ball bowlers Byron Taylor (15 wickets) and James Leather (14) have led the attack with Ethan Guida chipping in with nine wickets since crossing from Waurn Ponds Deakin.
Batting-wise Darcy Pearson sits at No 10 on the comp’s aggregate list with 232 runs at 46.40. Taylor, coming in down the order, has hit 174 runs at 34.80 and opener Angus Evans has made some starts for his 165 runs at 27.50, but will want to convert one of them soon.
Jack Driver has played only five games, but with scores of 51 not out, 34, 10, 39 and 27 combined with his handy bowling, looms as a trump card if he is available more often.
Bell Post Hill (5th, 26.25)
Star all-rounder Jason Grozdanovski is enjoying his first season back at Hamlyn Park since crossing from Murgheboluc. The left-arm tweaker has taken 22 wickets with an economy rate of 2.24 runs per over. He also has 121 runs batting the middle order.
Will Iles leads the runs with 203 at 33.83 while Rhys Burke’s five innings have yielded 173 runs at 43.25, including a wonderful 114 against the top side.
A first-up clash against Geelong City looms and a loss would make it extra tough to make finals.
Torquay (6th, 19.08)
After losing some key players in the off-season, Torquay has been super competitive, but will need to string wins together to make finals.
Opener Finlay Carter has been consistent with 264 runs at 37.71, Tim Stephens’ middle order batting has returned 258 at 43.00 and Tristan Kassis has made 206 at 41.20 at the top of the order.
John Fisher’s 14 wickets at 15.57 and Damian O’Brien’s 11 at 21.27 leads the bowling front.
The Tigers host bottom side Alexander Thomson straight away and must take the points to have any chance of creaking into the top four at the end of the home and away season.
Geelong West (7th, 13.56)
The Rams have struggled for runs with Dileep Naralasetti the top scorer with 151 at 18.75.
English recruit Charlie George-Eldridge has been superb with 13 wickets with the young quick taking nine in his past three games.
A tough assignment for Geelong West straight away with Bell Park arriving at West Oval full of confidence.
Alexander Thomson (8th, 13.45)
Captain Zach Mevissen has led the way for the Vikings with 187 runs at 46.75. Mevissen started the season strongly with scores of 51 not out, 47 and 73 not out, but three consecutive scores of single figures will have the talented all-rounder hungry in 2026. Mevissen has also chipped in with seven wickets.
Nakia Pearce (164 runs at 23.43) will be looking to turn several starts in the first of the season into big scores while the same could be said for Bailey Forssman (151 at 30.2)
Noah Harvey has sent down some very handy overs of spin and has 11 wickets to his name.
