Two Blues chase back-to-back wins

NEWTOWN & Chilwell Cricket Club will hope some returning key players will help undo the side’s sluggish start to the 2023/24 Geelong Cricket Association campaign as the Two Blues size up a gettable run total tomorrow (Saturday, November 18).

First XI playing coach Tom Meredith said the club’s new-look side and the return of key personnel would help settle his side into the new season, as the Two Blues sit tied for last in GCA1 with one win from their first five games.

“We’ve had a fairly slow start to the season with a number of unavailabilities ranging from marquee players not being in the side anymore to current players having other obligations.

“But everything came together really well in our win against South Barwon a couple weeks ago, our bowling was really tight, betting came off well, and fielding was on point.

“That performance showed us we are still the same team from last year on a competitive level.”

Meredith spoke highly of the young talent making an impact in the First XI, notably 19-year-old Archie Bain, who took six wickets against Grovedale last Saturday on Day One of their Round 6 clash with the Tigers.

Other youngsters include 16-year-old Lachie Norton, who has broken his way into the side in recent weeks.

County Cricket star George Rhodes and club stalwart George Chisholm are notable omissions from the side in ’23-24.

Isaac Hogan is still finding his rhythm back in the side following an injury that saw him sidelined for all of last year.

Fringe players such as Tim Hosking, John Simpson and Will Simpson have not seen play either due to other obligations.

While Meredith won’t be in the side’s run pursuit of Grovedale due to a day one absence, he said the 231-run target would not out of reach for a side seeking its second win of the season in as many weeks.

“We rate Grovedale as an outfit, they blew us away in the first game of the season with their strong batting line-up, so we were happy to keep it to 231.

“That is fairly chaseable, but we still have a lot of work to do, and we’ll need our opening batsmen to bite into that run total early; that falls to guys like Tyson Windus.

“The beauty of our order is the fact we do bat down to our eight or nine guys, so we’ll be ready to give it our best shot.”

Day two between Newtown & Chilwell and Grovedale begins at 1pm tomorrow, with the Two Blues resuming at 0/6.