Coach's Corner: On the right track
Tue, 24 November 2009
A share of top place after the opening two rounds of the new season is a good place to be and we can clear out on our own if we can maintain our winning form against the Queenslanders from Friday. The return of Brad Hodge is most welcome. We could have played last match had he had even an extra 36 hours rest. We felt with such a big season ahead that it best he return cherry ripe on Friday. We will again be going in with basically the same bowling mix with guys like Dirk Nannes and Damien Wright still needing extra time. Steve Gilmour is another who still is at least a fortnight away. Share Harwood, of course, won’t play again this summer. Given that scenario with so many frontliners out, we were very pleased to be able to take 20 West Australian wickets last match and trust we can do it again against a very competitive Queensland team. Batting wise I’d back our top six against anyone and it is no accident that Chris Rogers keeps on putting his name in front of the Australian selectors. Like Hodgey, Chris has an amazing thirst for runs and the contest. Since joining us at the start of last summer he has been a revelation on and off the field. He’s tough, professional and provides on-the-spot education to everyone in the group. Seeing guys like Chris and Brad go about their business is a privilege for us all and we’d like to think that Australian re-selection is only just around the corner for them both. Both have that mental toughness you need to succeed consistently at the highest level. Some of that toughness rubbed off on our group in the West Australian game. The team showed a lot of character to turn things around late in the game. As the defending champions we are finding that opposing teams are really working to stifle our point scoring. We saw that in particular in Adelaide in the first game against the South Australians. To concede first innings points against the West Australians required a special response and we got just that. Our bowlers re-adjusted their lines and were top notch when the game had to be won. They were ably supported by some brilliant fielding. There were five very special catches, including a screamer by Cam White at slip which helped turn the game we felt. Cam been a stellar fielder in that position for some years now. He’s also very sound in the inner ring area as well. His batting in the first dig helped us to stay in touch, his time away with the Australian team clearly beneficial. Clint McKay is another who seems to be improving with every match. He is showing great signs and has his confidence grows, he is able to push himself even harder and remain very competitive longer into his spells. All leg spinners need to be able to get that right to left movement and Bryce McGain did just that against the West Australians. He hadn’t been his normal self in the opening game in Adelaide. People forget that it was his first bowl since his Test match in South Africa and after such a long lay off it is always going to take time to get back into a rhythm. The performances of Bryce in Melbourne and Jon Holland in Canberra have given us another selection dilemma this week. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is no SCG where you can happily play two spinners most times. We have built our success around having three specialist fast bowlers, an allrounder like Ronnie McDonald and only one specialist spinner. You can’t pre-empt anything in cricket but it’s more likely we’d keep that mix in the immediate future, especially at home. We are not in any way underrating the Queenslanders who will again have some of the most exciting young talent in the country on show intermingled with the tried and true like Lee Carseldine who has the respect of every team in the country. We can’t afford to rest on our laurels. The competition is too hot for that.
Greg Shipperd, Head Coach of the DEC Bushrangers
