TPL – Round 2 preview

TPL Round 2

This Saturday sees round two of the TPL with all three fifty over games being hosted in Nelson.  One of either ACOB or Wakatu will pick up their first victory of the season as two of the first week losers square off at the Botanics. Both will be looking for better batting displays than they were able to produce in Blenheim last Saturday as they were each humbled by Marlborough teams.  At least ACOB reached triple figures but will be hoping for more support to the reliable Greg Chitty.  Wakatu were humbled for less than 50 and hard questions will have been asked at practice at Victory Square this week.

The other vanquished team from last weekend, WTTU, will also be hoping for a little more fortitude and better shot selection from their batsman at Jubilee Park as they battle with the Dolphins.  The Dolphins were barely tested last week and the home team will need to be wary of the dual bowling skills of Josh Poole and Ben Blackman who dismantled Wakatu last Saturday. WTTU look to have a strong medium pace attack in Joe O’Connor, Sam Baxendine and Josh Newport but the batsmen need to give them a target to work with.

Nelson College enter the fray after having the bye last week as they host the visiting Falcons team fresh off a good victory over ACOB. The fixture will be played at Ngawhatu and the students will need to keep close tabs on all-rounder Matthew Stretch. He dominated proceedings with both bat and ball last week and has begun the season as top performer in the competition. College will be hoping that some of their younger players are able to step up to support big Jarrod McKay with the ball and Fergus Hughes with the bat.

Stoke Nayland have the bye this week following on from a good start to the season.  All matches begin at 11:30 am and should produce some entertaining cricket action.

NELSON, NEW ZEALAND – FEBURARY 10: Premier Cricket ACOB v Nelson College on February 10 2018 in Nelson, New Zealand. (Photo by: Evan Barnes Shuttersport Limited)