Sport
19 January, 2024
Homers and Tigers set to clash
Round nine of the Horsham Cricket Association resumes this weekend with ladder leaders Homers facing the fourth placed Tigers in a one day match at Horsham City Oval.
Homer's captain Adam Atwood is looking forward to the test and is happy where they are at but emphasises they can't be complacent.
"The young boys are doing a good job so we need to make sure we don't get too complacent and work harder than we ever have," he said.
"The boys are bowling well. They are bowling straight at the stumps which is good. The wickets around here have had water from the Christmas rain so it will be interesting to see how they play."
Baxter and Gibson Perry have been bright sparks this season and have 18 and 16 wickets with averages of 13.39 and 10.5 respectively. Baxter ripped through the Bullants in the last round for Christmas with figures of 6/21 and Atwood praised them.
"The Gibson boys have really impressed this season with the ball," he said.
Tigers captain Tyler Puls knows the game will be hard and is happy with how the team is tracking.
"Homers are going to be a good test. They have good young players," he said.
"It would be nice for us to have a few more wins but we just need to make sure we are bowling our good lines and taking chances with the ball and building partnerships with the bat."
At Cameron Oval, seventh placed Laharum play West Wimmera Warriors.
The Warriors, sitting second on the ladder, lost their last game in an upset to the Horsham Saints but with a full squad now available following harvest they are looking for momentum.
Warriors captain Jeremy Weeks said it's good to see a lot of competition at the top of the table.
"The Homers boys are having a good season, the Tigers are going well and you can't rule out the Bullants," he said.
"We are going alright and we are going to get stronger so hopefully we can get into the finals and go from there.
"I think the new format with eight teams is working well as it seems to be more competitive."
Weeks is also impressed with Jobe Dickinson. He has scored 130 runs averaging 32.5 and Weeks said he is one to watch.
"Jobe is coming through nicely at the top of the order. He made runs in country week and he is in good form," he said.
"He has been a bright spark and he can go a long way with his cricket."
Laharum captain Daniel Griffiths says the focus will be continuing to grow.
"For the rest of the season we want to give more confidence to our younger players and giving them a good crack," he said.
"We have a lot of young talent here we want to develop. It was good to see the Hoffmann boys and Max Bunworth do well at country week.
"We are happy where the season is at. We have had our chances and didn't take them but improvement is the key."
Blackheath Dimboola play the Bullants at the Dimboola Recreation Reserve.
Currently sitting sixth on the ladder with two wins the Bulls are unlikely to play finals but with four matches left, including three two-dayers, captain Sam Leith wants to see improvement.
"It's going to be a test against the Bullants. They are a really good outfit and they beat us convincingly when we played them earlier in the season," he said.
"We will have a couple players out including Jake McLean and Brodie Cramer but we will still have a half decent side.
With players still missing, it gives a few young players more of a chance to impress and Leith said that whilst they are going to be tested, it will be interesting to see how they perform.
"With the two-dayers coming up we have some younger talent there like Jordy Laverty, Archer Laverty and Malcolm Barry," he said.
"They are going to get a lot of opportunity at batting and bowling so it will be interesting to see how they go."
In the other match, fifth placed Horsham Saints host bottom of the ladder Lubeck Murtoa at Coughlin Park.
B Grade also returns this weekend. The match of the round will see third placed Quantong host fourth placed Homers. Second placed Rup-Minyip host seventh placed Bullants and sixth place West Wimmera host fifth placed Tigers. Ladder leaders Colts have the bye.