Northeners may be on the verge of inserting themselves as a shock finals contender after notching a dominant innings victory over a well-restrained Karramomus on Saturday.
Having established a clear ascendancy with a furious late spell of bowling on day one, Northerners pressed on with power and never gave their winless adversaries a sniff.
THE GAME
Karramomus 116 (Mitch McGrath 29, Zavier Davidson 2-12, Stuart Turner 2-17, Dallas Furnell 2-17) and 7-68 (Logan Campbell 22, Stuart Turner 5-11, Taylor Dunning 1-5) defeated by Northerners 242 (Mitchell Brett 85, Stuart Turner 40, Satwinder Jeet Singh 3-39) by an innings and 58 runs
STAR PLAYER
Stuart Turner (Northerners): Turner has been an integral figure as Northerners even out the win-loss column, and his two-day effort was immense as part of his side’s vital batting partnership before breaking seven more of his own Saturday.
Mitch McGrath provided stiff going in the first go around for Karramomus, coming in right as day two got under way following last week’s top-order collapse.
Unfortunately for his attempt to provide stability, the security only lasted as long as he did, with his side falling well and truly off after his dismissal for 29 as Northeners cleaned them up less than halfway to the target.
With a further 127 required to avoid a rough innings defeat, the Karramomus top order fared little better with a fresh start than last time, and McGrath’s survival skills could not stall his rampant foes any longer.
Northerners had a handful of handy contributors in their first time through the Karramomus line-up, but Stuart Turner took the load on himself in the repeat innings with a stylish five-for.
Would you believe he wasn’t terribly happy with it?
“It’s a pretty average pitch at Vibert and I’d spoken to a couple of the Karra lads and they’re not happy with it either,” Turner said.
“They were throwing a couple of wickets away trying to save the game, so I bowled okay, but nothing spectacular.
“We gave ourselves a chance for the outright, but asking the boys to field that well for all 80 overs is a challenge.
“It wasn’t actually our best performance with the ball early, but it was good to persist and bounce back from a poor start to where the standards are, taking consistent wickets.”
Out of nothing, the side from Tallygaroopna suddenly shapes as one of the Haisman Shield’s form teams after not getting a heap wrong across the past four weeks of cricket.
There’s no form side quite like Waaia, though, which will loom as the sternest test yet for Turner’s rebounding squad.
“We know what to expect out of Waaia, because since they’ve been in this league, they’ve been up there,” Turner said.
“We have a lot of people unavailable for one week or the other, and because of the stupid rule that you can only change one in between, it’s going to test our depth.
“They’re a class outfit, though, and if we don’t play our best they might blow us off the park, but we’re excited for the challenge.”