Sport
22 January, 2020
Steamrollers end decade long drought against Cats
A BLAZING century from Jacob Fishwick snapped Noorat’s 10 year long losing streak to Mortlake last Saturday.
A BLAZING century from Jacob Fishwick snapped Noorat’s 10 year long losing streak to Mortlake last Saturday.
The Steamrollers, who had last defeated the Cats in November 2009, cruised to a seven wicket victory at Noorat thanks to Fishwick’s unbeaten knock of 105 off 78 balls.
It was the second time he has reached triple figures since joining the club, with the aggressive top-order batsman making 100 against Bookaar on debut in the opening round.
Skipper Steve O’Connor was pleased with the result and said the performance would give his side a confidence boost as they enter a season-defining stretch of matches.
“Coming into the back half of the year hopefully it gives us plenty of confidence and shows that we can knock off anyone on our day,” he said.
O’Connor said the win was set up thanks to a disciplined bowling effort.
The Steamrollers elected to bowl first and were rewarded with regular wickets as the Cats’ top order endured a rare off day.
Gus Bourke (2/25), Daniel Kenna (2/23), Isaac Kenna (2/31) and Rory Baker (2/50) shared the wickets as the visitors were dismissed for 192 in the final over.
“We bowled pretty well early, I think at one stage they were 6 for 100 and they then got away at the end but to restrict them to 192 on a fast enough outfield was a pretty good effort,” O’Connor said.
“We kept them under pressure with regular wickets but our early bowling probably set it up for us.”
In reply, Noorat fell slightly behind the run rate before Fishwick and Nick Kenna put on a 119 run stand to swing the game in Noorat’s favour.
Kenna was dismissed for a productive 34 in the 40th over with Fishwick joined by Bourke at the crease.
The pair moved the Steamrollers within three runs of victory with the century maker crunching his eighth sixth on the third ball of the 43rd over to bring up his century and secure victory for Noorat.
O’Connor was thrilled with the effort of his batsmen and said he was not concerned with the target despite falling behind the required run rate.
“We fell a little bit behind at one stage but we knew with Jake coming in that we would be okay because he can score pretty quickly,” he said.
“I never felt uncomfortable about the runs. I went out at drinks and spoke to the boys about a target to be around at the 40th over and we were well clear of that.
“So the runs were never an issue I think, we just had to bat our overs out. And that’s the biggest thing we’ve been working on this year, is batting out our overs because we know we have the firepower to make a winning score.”
The win lifted Noorat into outright third, with the Steamrollers set to play Camperdown at S.A. Wright Oval this Saturday.
The Steamrollers have yet to play the Lakers with O’Connor stressing the importance of his side backing up their victory.
“It’s very important for us to consolidate our win last week and if we can win it will push us clear of those sides in fifth and sixth whereas if we lose we’re back to the pack,” he said.
“A win will also set us up for a crack at some bigger things such as the top two but at this stage we’re concentrating on winning this week.
“Obviously Camperdown has improved a lot on last year similarly to us and they have a couple of imports we don’t know too much about so it should be a good game on the turf.”