By Jonty Ralphsmith
Halfway through the Dandenong District Cricket Association Turf 2 season, it looks to be a matter of which Dandenong West player will take out the Gartside Medal.
The Bulls have the top two wicket-takers in the competition and two of the top three batters, with the quartet all seeming to be each other’s biggest threats when the umpires do their voting.
Veteran opening batter Shaun Weir appears to be the standout of the four, with 307 runs at 61.4, including a century and three half-centuries, each of which has set the tone for Dandy West with firepower and flair.
In the games Weir has missed out or been absent, skipper Anthony Brannan has stepped up, anchoring four innings so far this season, accumulating 254 runs at 42.33 in the process.
Nuwan Kulasekara leads the wicket-taking with 20 at 10.55, which includes two five-wicket hauls, and an all-round performance against Keysborough so he will be hot on the veterans’ heels.
Then there’s Adam Reid, the fast bowler who started the season like he had a point to prove, currently sitting on 19 wickets at 17.11 which includes two five-wicket hauls.
Whether the umpires favour the standout batter or bowler in Dandy West’s suite of early season games where there were multiple noteworthy performances will have a big say on the leaderboard.
That Dandy West has lost just one game this season further helps their cause.
The closest challengers from other clubs would appear to be allrounders harsaroup Singh and Ryan Patterson.
Singh sits second in the runscoring with 261 runs at 52, but the majority of those runs have come in two knocks.
Patterson is close to guaranteed full votes with a spell of 6/46 to bowl his team home against Cranbourne, while he has been tireless with the ball in a series of other close games and while he’s been at times unrewarded, some lower-order cameos could help him snare votes.
But that pair appear to be fighting it out to be the best of the rest, with ‘West all but certain to have the top handful of vote-getters at the halfway point.
