It’s no secret that star Cardinia all-rounder Matt Welsh is made for big moments when his team needs it most.
The 2024/25 Lex Duff medallist added another massive performance to his growing cricketing resume with an innings of 143 against Clyde in round six of the Casey Cardinia Cricket Association (CCCA) Premier Division on Saturday.
The knock came off 158 balls and included 20 boundaries, 19 of which were fours.
His approach to batting came when he noticed the speed of the outfield at Clyde Recreation Reserve.
“Before I went out, I realised the ground was lightning,” Welsh noted.
“You just had to hit it next to a fielder and it would just keep rolling.
“I told myself I didn’t have to do anything stupid, I didn’t have to hit sixes, I just needed to play decent cricket shots and if I picked a gap it was four.”
And thus, he built his score amidst a 149-run partnership with Yohan Arumadura.
Arumadura also raised the bat with 61 of his own, catapulting the Bulls’ innings from 4/98 to 5/247 when Arumadura was finally caught.
“It’s good batting with Yo because he’s an aggressive bat and he scores runs so he takes a bit of the pressure off,” Welsh said of the partnership.
“You don’t have to force it yourself, which is good.
“With both of us being somewhat aggressive, it’s just easier knowing if we face an over where we don’t make any runs that we’re going to make up for it.
“He was batting beautifully, we didn’t do anything silly and kept ticking them along.”
Cardinia concluded its time at the crease all out for 291, by far its highest score of the season.
After a very difficult week with the bat in round five, Welsh highlighted one thing that kept the Bulls focussed; belief.
“We know we’ve got all the bats we need, we’re a good batting side,” he said.
“We trust them, even with Morteza out, we still had faith.
“We could put someone up to do a job which Hynesy did, he got 23 but I think it was just about using the time.
“We took away the confidence that we can score a total.
“It’ll be good for a lot of the boys to get a lot of confidence.”
Jacobus Hynes (23) and Bradey Welsh (24) were the other two significant contributors in propelling Cardinia to its total.
As for Matt Welsh, his innings was one to remember.
It’s his second-highest career score after managing 159 in the second XI in January 2023, but it’s his best at Premier level.
“It’s always nice, I thought about it the whole drive home,” he laughed.
For the Cougars, Luke Kerford took four wickets and Brett Reid claimed three.
The hosts were sent out to the crease for two overs to finish the day and saw themselves through to stumps, being 0/1 overnight chasing 292.
