Coach's Corner: Stepping up
Tue, 19 January 2010
I can't hear too many questioning the relevance of Twenty20 cricket right now. Those who still reckon it's a little more than a passing fad certainly weren't part of the excitement which was the MCG last Friday night or haven't seen any of the sell-outs at the other major capital city grounds around the nation over Christmas and the start of the New Year. Saturday night's final in Adelaide should be another packed house. As pleased as I was to see our boys win and earn a place in the lead-up final against the Queenslanders in Brisbane, I was rapt how our whole side took their cricket to another level when it counted in the big win over the Tasmanians. For the last 10 overs in the Tasmanian innings to go for just 62 speaks volumes of the bowling and the fielding. It was quite a fightback on a night Brad Hodge and Aaron Finch made particularly memorable with their magnificent near 150 run opening stand. Cricket is all about taking your opportunities and Finchy certainly did that. Brad Hodge was at his brilliant best. He loves a big crowd and with more than 43,000 in it doesn't get too much better than that! He has been a champion player for years and his clean hitting helped us to get away to a flier. Someone measured his two six hits from the bowling of young James Faulkner as being more than 90 metres. That's seriously long. He'd had two or three low scores in the lead-ups and he bounced back like a true pro. Matty Wade's ankle has been worrying him since the season start and we hope the extra rest will allow him to be back in the side soon, maybe as early as Tuesday night. We won't know more for another 24 hours. Certainly it's not a long term problem. It was more a management thing for him to miss Saturday night's match. We all felt Ryan Carters did a nice neat job coming into the side. We go into the Queensland final with high expectation. We know our best can be more than competitive. Our group has worked hard for the opportunity to play off again in the Champion's League. It's all part of cricket going global and from our part, we're loving the opportunity to be one win away from being there again...
Greg Shipperd, Head Coach of the DEC Bushrangers
