By David Nagel
The highest available accolade for Clyde will be “brave effort in 2024/25” unless the Cougars can pull a surprise when they roll out the red carpet for second-placed Tooradin on Saturday.
Trevor Bauer and his team slipped from third to fifth in round 12 after falling victim to Kooweerup at Denhams Road; the Cougars first taste of defeat since November 2 against Pakenham.
The final wash up is; the Cougars now find themselves half a game outside the top four with just two games remaining in the season.
Those two games just happen to be against the top-two; Tooradin and Cardinia, meaning it’s highly-unlikely the Cougars will play finals this season.
But their “brave effort” deserves to last until the final round of the season, where they can definitely have Pakenham looking over its collective shoulder.
The Lions should defeat Devon Meadows in their round-13 match-up at Glover Reserve, before a final-round shoot-out against Tooradin.
The Lions will start underdogs in that final game, meaning the Cougars will give themselves a great shot if they can get over the Seagulls over the next fortnight.
But that’s a task that won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination!
The reigning premiers are clearly not as dominant as last season, where they dropped just one game during the home-and-away rounds, but would still appear to be favourite for this year’s title.
The Gulls have had star performers such as Cal O’Hare, Josh Lownds, Tyler Evans and Connor O’Riordan lead the way, while Russell Lehman (117) and Dylan Sutton (6/63) joined Evans (67 not out) with ‘season-best’ performances against Merinda Park last week.
Four of those players – Evans, Lehman, Lownds and Sutton – are high-quality all-rounders, while skipper Mick Sweeney and Bailey Lownds have played important roles in a star-studded line up.
Clyde will be disappointed with last week’s performance against Kooweerup, with Michael Vandort (85) the only player that can put his hand up and say “yep…I did alright”.
No-body else had an impact, with bat or ball; and that’s unlike the Cougars this season.
Bauer, Vandort, Praveen Perera and Teddy Fonseka have consistently stood up with the bat, while Ankush Rana, Nick Shannon and Max Adams have been steady performers with the ball.
The Cougars should be better this week, but it still won’t be enough…it’s the Seagulls to win handsomely.
If Tooradin does defeat Clyde, then Pakenham gets the opportunity to lock away a finals berth against Devon Meadows at Glover Reserve.
The Lions broke a two-game losing streak against a “stone-walling” Upper Beaconsfield last week, but don’t come into this one with any great momentum after taking just six wickets on day two…when nine were required for outright points.
That lack of penetration will likely cost the Lions come finals, but shouldn’t cause too much of a problem against the Panthers.
Lucas Ligt and his team were embarrassed by Cardinia in round 12, being rolled for 114 and 68; and were 8/40 in their second dig before Jamie Cape (17 off 40) and Ricky Mitchell (10 off 46) showed some lower-order fight.
Remarkably, the Panthers lost their first eight wickets in 22 overs in their second dig; which is simply not good enough at this level.
Pakenham showed some promising signs on day one against Upper Beaconsfield, with Chris Smith, Jason Williams and Nick Sadler all in ripping form; and will be too good across the 160-over format.
It’s the Lions to lock down fourth spot with a very easy victory.
In other games this week, top-of-the-table Cardinia will be far too good for a relegation-bound Merinda Park at Gunton Oval, while Kooweerup will need to stay focused when the Demons head to Upper Beaconsfield to take on the Maroons.
The Demons were surprisingly off their tucker during the middle stages of the season, but have now won four of their last five to virtually assure themselves a place in the top four.
Class acts such as Chris Bright, Luke McMaster, Shiran Rathnayake, Adam McMaster and Steven Dillon are all closing in on their best for Kooweerup, while Jess Mathers and Cody Miller would love some ‘confidence-boosting’ numbers heading into finals.
The Demons are still a chance of snatching a top-two finish, but would need to defeat either Upper Beaconsfield or Devon Meadows outright to make that a possibility.
Who knows, with a bowling attack that contains the lethal power of the McMaster boys, Mathers, Rathnayake and Dillon; they might defeat both outright and head into finals in the best possible form.
The Maroons have proved themselves dangerous at times on their home deck; but it’s the Demons to win convincingly.
And Cardinia; fresh off maximum points against Devon Meadows, will look to consolidate top spot when Merinda Park visits the Bull Pit.
There were many impressive features of the Bulls’ dominant win over the Panthers; but multiple wickets to Travis Wheller, Josh Grogan, Mark Cooper, Trishane De Silva and Yohan Arumadura showed the Bulls have the fire-power to finish this season in style.
Expect Alex Nooy to continue his hot season, and move to number-two in league runs, and the Bulls to get the job done in a canter.
CCCA PREMIER TIPS – R13: Upper Beaconsfield (7) v KOOWEERUP (3), CARDINIA (1) v Merinda Park (8), Devon Meadows (6) v PAKENHAM (4), Clyde (5) v TOORADIN (1).
