Coach's Corner: Time to impress
Mon, 30 November 2009
With six matches in December and lots of travelling time from Newcastle to Bunbury, the opportunities are abundant in the coming weeks as our players look to impress the national selectors and join Peter Siddle in Australian colours. Two one-dayers in a week are followed by our next Shield game against the South Australians and we'd like to think that five or six of our lads are in key contention both for Test and one-day international call-ups. It's a busy program, but it's also a golden time for the group as a whole and there's no doubt our unity and is a key component to our success far. The team is really starting to show its character and if we are really tested as occurred in the first 90 minutes or so against the Queenslanders last match, players are capable of arresting the momentum and turning it back our way. David Hussey was a classic case with his man-of-the-match 174. David had started the season slower than he wanted but really started to show positive signs in the second innings against Western Australia when he played a key supporting role alongside Chris Rogers in our final day run chase. To score the runs he did on a testing wicket against a competitive attack was to his credit, especially as the highest score by any of the Bulls was 58. One of our credos as a group is to look to cash in and turn a century into a big one and David did just that. It was a matchwinning innings. Matthew Wade, Clinton McKay and Andrew McDonald also had exceptional games, as the Test selector on duty Merv Hughes no doubt noted. Matt is already a very fine player and future honors await. We'd like to think he may be in contention for the Prime Minister's XI game later in the summer. That has often been a stepping stone towards higher honors. Clint already has 11 wickets in the opening three Shield games after making the Champion's League all-stars XI and also being flown to India for the last of Australia's one-dayers. We believe he stands alongside Doug Bollinger with "next cab" status into the Test XI. Wouldn't it be wonderful if he could make his Test debut on Friday! A word, too, on "Ronnie" McDonald who, like David Hussey, is a world-class player and very versatile, capable of filling all sorts of roles at higher level. He is at the top of his game and already this summer has a 100 to his credit as well as nine or 10 key wickets. He has had frontline responsibility with guys like Sidds in the Test team and Dirk Nannes, Wrighty and Shane Harwood unavailable and has shown great leadership and team skills which have been crucial in our early lead in the Shield competition. John Hastings is another to have stood up. He is responding to the tactical side of the game and is fulfilling key team roles. He's one of our big improvers. After the two one-dayers we are looking to further cement our high standing in the Shield against the South Australians. Right now we may even be unchanged which hasn't occurred at first-class level for three years (and 28 games since November, 2006). It just goes to show how important your depth reserves are. We'd like to think Dirk Nannes and Wrighty can be available by mid-month. They have only just started their bowling programs now after their early injuries. Both are experienced enough to play at either the four-day or one-day level; whatever is required. They are very much part of our front-line attack so it keeps everyone on their toes and allows us some flexibility at selection, enabling us to rotate our fast bowlers and give them much needed rest time to freshen up at important times of a season. We remain commited as a group to playing at attractively as we can and look forward to seeing big numbers of supporters throughout December, both home and away and into the holiday season in January.
by Greg Shipperd, head coach of the DEC Bushrangers
