General News
4 February, 2022
Baker’s century secures Pelicans victory
BOOKAAR had opening batsman Simon Baker to thank after his unbeaten century guided it home over a spirited Woorndoo side.
BOOKAAR had opening batsman Simon Baker to thank after his unbeaten century guided it home over a spirited Woorndoo side.
Woorndoo batted well for its first innings total of 8/181, but Baker’s knock held his side together through its run chase as the Pelicans passed the total with four overs remaining.
Deiter McDonald (1/32) broke up the key 96-run partnership of Tyler Schafer (48) and Jason Fowler (91), while Fraser Lucas had the best bowling figures of 2/24.
But the performance of the match belonged to Baker, who batted through the Pelicans innings and made 113 not out off 156 balls, taking his season average to a division best 72.5.
Eddie Lucas (18) and Fraser Lucas (13) also contributed with the bat in what was otherwise a one-man show from Baker.
While Bookaar skipper Tim Fitzgerald said the Pelicans did not play at its absolute best, Woorndoo deserved credit for making the game “very difficult”.
“It wasn’t an easy win, we never thought it would be,” he said.
“We didn’t bowl as well as we’d like in stages, but they batted really well, I thought.
“They waited for the bad ball and when it came they hit it for four.”
Fitzgerald also noted Woorndoo had some difficult circumstances to deal with.
“They had their captain (Grant Cameron) out, that was probably the difference in the end,” he said.
“Also Jason Fowler made 90, but he did his hamstring when he was on about 50.
“So he left a few runs out there because he couldn’t run twos, and the same for the bloke at the other end, Schafer had 30 or 40 runs when he should have had more because he could only get singles.
“A bit of luck went our way there, but we still had a bit left in hand, and we controlled the game with our batting.”
Fitzgerald praised Baker’s knock and his season in general.
“Once he’s in, he’s hard to get out,” he said.
“The week before he was caught behind but it was off his pad, he wasn’t out there but you get that in cricket.
“But I don’t think he gave up a chance on the weekend.”
Fitzgerald said his side just about got the balance right between offence and defence with the bat.
“I told them to be confident (batting) because we don’t want a situation where we need a run a ball in the last six overs, we’ve got to get above the run rate and stay there,” he said.
“We did that, but we got out a bit doing it too.
“We got our runs pretty quick, like Fraser got 13 but he didn’t chew up balls for his runs, he got them quick.
“It took the pressure off a bit, then they got a few late wickets that did scare me a bit, but I know we bat pretty deep.”
This weekend Bookaar heads to S.A. Wright Oval to face Camperdown in another must-win game for the Pelicans.
“This one’s very important, because then we go into the bye, which is a pain at this stage,” Fitzgerald said.
“It’s a big game because Camperdown are young but they’ve got some really good cricketers, and it’s on the turf, anything can happen on turf.
“We’ve got to respect them, we’ll keep our heads screwed on and play it like it’s the top side.”