Leopold captain Tom Treble is hoping a hamstring injury will only keep him out of the current two-day clash against Highton, but liked what he saw from his side on Saturday even though it was from the sidelines.
Treble’s injury occurred during his innings of 49 against Geelong West in round 3 of Geelong Cricket Association’s Division 2 competition.
“Hopefully it will only be the two-dayer so that way it allows me three weeks of recovery before the next game,” he said.
“Hopefully that will be enough, but it will just be one of those touch and go things. We’ll see how we go.”
Leopold dismissed the dangerous Highton batting line-up for 153 at Leopold Memorial Park on Saturday 25 October and is 1/79 in reply.
Declan Gibson’s second spell was a major factor with the quick snaring 4/39 while fellow seamers Jack Le Maistre (2/25) and Ben Horne (1/36) and left-arm finger spinners Hayden Butterworth (2/12) and Robbie O’Donnell (1/28) all played their roles.
“I was super impressed with the boys,” Treble said.
“Every time Highton looked to get on top, we were able to make a bowling change and get a breakthrough and it just shows what sort of bowling partnerships they have where two guys are able to just work together on a batting pair and put the pressure on them and make it hard to score and the wickets came from that.”
Gibson picked up a wicket in his second over, but Isaac Bird (35 from 38 deliveries) then hit the next three balls to the boundary. However, Gibson came back later in the innings to capture wickets at key moments.
“He got taken to pretty early on and (Bird) took him for a few boundaries,” Treble said.
“We were able to bring Dec back on and he just relished it and had a good comeback performance. He essentially got back to his plans and did a really good job.”
Leopold’s run chase didn’t start well with opener Henry Hatswell out in the third over, but Sam Mitchell (23 not out) and stand-in skipper Butterworth (50 not out) will resume this Saturday with 75 runs required for victory.
Butterworth’s return to Memorial Park received a lot of publicity during the preseason with the former Geelong Premier Cricket run machine back after an 12-month absence since retiring from Victoria’s top level.
With scores of 8 and 20 in his first two outings, Butterworth’s unbeaten half-century is ominous for opposition bowlers this season.
“You’ll never be able to keep a player like him down for too long,” Treble said.
“He’s had a year off cricket, so just getting back into the swing of things and getting used to a new team and new environment, new league, so those things take a little bit of adjustment.
“But having the captaincy yesterday, he just really made it his own when he went out there to bat and bowled well, too. That’s a testament to him and his ability.”
While Leopold should have few problems in knocking off the runs this week, stranger things have happened and Highton possesses a good bowling attack. The Lions will miss Treble at No 4 in the batting order, but have a deep line-up.
“We’ll go out there with the intent to bat well and see what the game eventuates to,” he said.
“You never know what happens during the week. The conditions might change. So we’ll just assess that as the week pans out and when we get to Saturday we’ll just go about our business as usual.”
BELL Park is poised for victory when play resumes against Geelong West. The Dragons are 80 without loss, chasing West’s 144 all out with Sam Elliston-Buckley (42 not out) and Jamie Spiller (34 not out) at the crease. Earlier in the day, Bailey Kelly proved tough to play with the spinner snaring 4/29.
JAMES Leather took 5/41 for Geelong City to have Bell Post Hill 9/214 when rain ended play early. Plenty of Panthers batters got starts with the top seven all spending time at the crease, but none could get past 39 with Miles Slather the top scorer.
SANJEEWA Jayasekara took 4/44 from 24 overs of spin for Alexander Thomson against Torquay, which was all out for 180. Ash Russell top scored with 45 for the Tigers.
