Swinging into the local cricket season

And while it has been mighty fun to see the Australians thrash the English harder than Anthony Joshua would thrash...well, me, the local district and representative cricket has been much more competitive to watch. 

Although most teams have their share of consistent performers in the Triggs Shield, some players more than others have shone in a season which has been scrappy and close-run. 

The standout batter of the season so far has been Dave Field of the Yass Snipers, whose glut of runs would make Steven Smith blush. 

Despite some outstanding batting returns, the momentum has definitely been with the bowlers over the course of the season. 

For example, the first round of the season featured an eight-fer from Nick Pollack against the Bowning Buffaloes. 

Similarly, Chris Rawlinson snared five wickets in the most recent Stribley Shield fixture, and his legspin made Cootamundra dizzier than Mike Gatting after his first delivery from Shane Warne. 

The one consistent across the season, by consensus of most players, has been the poor fielding. 

Many matches have featured at least one catch shelled, most of which shouldn’t have been. 

Whether it’s a lack of training, or simple off-season rust, or “the sun was in my eyes, mate”, many captains have admitted that the effort is not good enough and needs to improve, the most recent of which was Field himself. 

Coming up to the Christmas break, it remains to be seen what changes will be made in training. 

I think we can guarantee a better fielding display around the board, particularly considering that it seems to be the difference in most matches. 

However, we may also see the batting and bowling fortunes of local teams skew, so that the batsmen may start taking control more often. 

But since it’s the Christmas break, I think it’s a safe bet that the most likely outcome is that the players will be too busy relaxing and unwrapping gleaming new cricket bats to be concerned with the latter half of the season.