Harper Sercombe
Spotswood remains at the top of the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association north-west ladder after defeating Taylors Lakes on Saturday.
After losing the toss and bowling, Spotswood took it in its stride knocking over both of the Lions’ openers for ducks. While its third and fourth batsmen were able to steady the ship, Spotswood remained in the hunt, dismissing the side for just 124.
Spotswood were able to chase it down in the same time of 32 overs with three wickets remaining, finishing 7-127.
“When you’re this far into the season you’re top of the ladder for a reason, that’s what I keep trying to tell our guys,” coach Dan Schuppan said.
“There’s obviously a lot of the season still left to go but up to this point we’re really happy.
“I thought on the weekend, we just got the job done. It was probably a real blue collar performance, we just bowled and fielded really well.
“We then just had guys who made starts, and we had one guy in Jarrod Martignago who batted through… having someone in that top five being able to see us through, is our blueprint in one-dayers.”
From the bowling side of things, once again Sam Hope was a standout for Spotswood. Hope continued his great season form which sees him with 20 wickets at an average of 12 to this point in the season.
“He has just taken his game to the next level, we got him half way through the season last year and he’s the leader of our attack now and he really relishes that,” Schuppan said.
“He’s done an outstanding job since he’s been with us and he just sets the tone early, he ended up with four wickets on the weekend and with two-day cricket coming around, there will be a big bag just waiting for him.
“He’s ultra consistent and always looking to improve… What Sam does is offer you real reliability, when he’s got the ball in his hand you know what he’s going to produce.”
This week, Spotswood faces Brunswick in another one-day clash. Although Brunswick is sitting in eighth on the ladder Schuppan said he said it will still be a good test for his side.
“At the moment if you drop one game or win one game you can move multiple spots, it’s a real ‘snakes and ladders’ season,” he said.
“When you look through Brunswick’s list and the quality of individual players they have, we have an enormous amount of respect for them.”
After winning the premiership last season Spotswood knows what it takes to get the job done at the pointy end of the season. While Schuppan said he isn’t looking that far ahead just yet, he is confident in his side.
“We know that our best cricket stands up, so that’s a really good thing to have,” he said.
“You’ve got to be really honest in the list that you have and the people that you know you are rolling out. We know that if we play our best cricket we are going to be pretty tough to beat. So the challenge is trying to replicate that week in week out.
“Even on the weekend we get the six points but are there things that we could improve on, absolutely there is. But we are pretty happy with where we sit.”
