Rams fighting to stay in contention as women’s sides hope for better performances on turf

Chapman Valley-Northampton and Wanderers have double duty in this weekend’s Geraldton Bendigo Bank Cricket League. They meet on Friday night at Wonthella in the Young Motors T20 Series with the Rams needing to win to have any chance of making finals while the Wanderers are playing just their second T20 this season. There is not much form to go on for either side but with plenty on the line it may just bring out the best in both sides. They meet again on Saturday, in a 50-over game, CVN and Wanderers meet again at GBSC1. Wanderers have edged into third place following their upset win over Towns last week and have slowly built a more solid batting unit over recent weeks and look like a far more balanced side. Rams have been disappointing with the bat but while not out of finals contention, the door is closing and with just one win to show across all formats this season will be desperate for a lift before Christmas. The other 50-over game is at the Rec where competition leaders Towns, coming off successive losses, plan to get back on track against Sportsmans. Sportsmans have an excellent bowling attack second to probably only Towns and it could be a bowling shootout with both sides struggling with the bat this season. In Young Motors women’s cricket on Sunday, T20s on turf pitches resume with Towns facing Wanderers at GBSC1 while CVN are home at Mazzuchelli Oval and meet Sportsmans. Last week’s games were also on turf and a talking point on social media with Rams dismissed in one game for only 23 and Towns shot out in the other for 20 the second and third lowest scores ever recorded. One theory with merit is a lot of women when bowling tend to lob the ball and on hard decks the batter’s stumps are mostly safe as there’s always bounce. On turf, less bounce means a straight ball is likely headed for the stumps, not over them, and to give that theory weight, 22 of 35 bowler-dismissed batters last week were bowled or lbw. It is also a steep learning curve with women offered little opportunity to play on turf wickets outside of these precious few weeks and country week. Towns captain Michell McDonald said they did not help themselves with some run-outs but it was a difficult adjustment from hard decks to turf. “To play all our games on concrete and then move to turf where the ball moves around a lot more it is certainly challenging,” she said. “I think also going back to 20 over games from 30 overs a lot of us felt that pressure to get runs early which compounded the issue.” “Long term I think all women’s cricket should be played on turf, whether Geraldton could facilitate that I’m not so sure but if we could get to a least half and half it would do wonders for the development of women’s cricket and also help with country week preparation.” Regardless McDonald does not expect last week’s results to repeat themselves. “I think we will be a lot more patient this week and the girls have a better understanding of what to expect so I’m confident we will put in a better performance,” she said.