By Marcus Uhe
Unsurprisingly, the breakaway trio after nine rounds in DDCA Turf 3 saturate the mid-season Team of the Year line up, taking up eight of the 11 spots.
Keysborough, led by captain Christo Otto, has four selections, Silverton three and Fountain Gate one.
This team has looked to reward consistency and performances against the best-performed slides, meaning some players with impressive numbers, such as Nadim Nazif and Anmol Zakhmi, overlooked.
Anmol Zakhmi will enter round 10 as the leading runscorer but hasn’t made the cut.
Outside of his unbeaten 157 against Hampton Park, he has just 82 runs in seven innings.
The same goes for Berwick Springs’ Archit Vora – despite averaging 184, he has been excluded, having played just three matches.
Nazif, meanwhile, took eight of his 18 wickets against Doveton, and went wicketless against Keysborough.
THE LOCKS
James Wright – Keysborough. 25 wickets at 9.4, 3x 5 wicket hauls.
After a slow beginning to the season in which his first two spells went unrewarded, Wright is well and truly making up for lost time.
Finishing the 2024 component of the season with a hattrick of five-wicket hauls, with two coming in key victories over finals contenders Berwick Springs and Lynbrook, Wright’s return to form has been as critical as anyone’s in Keysborough’s ascension up the Turf 3 table.
Defending just 172 against Lynbrook in round 9, Wright destroyed the Lakers’ top order to reduce them to 5/36 after cruising along at 1/31.
The week prior against Berwick Springs, he grabbed the entire top four, and numbers seven and eight, taking 6/46, ensuring a short run chase.
Good luck getting the new ball out of his hands.
Surya Pratap – Fountain Gate. 30 wickets at 5.3, 3x 5 wicket hauls.
This is not a drill; Fountain Gate’s left-arm spinner is averaging 5.3.
These extraordinary numbers reflect why his coach, Ray Pal was so high on the Gators’ new tweaker at the beginning of the year, with Pratap delivering in spades in his early endeavours.
Against Keysborough he took 6/12 from 8.2 overs with four maidens in a one-day contest and repeated his heroics the next week with 7/24 against Lynbrook in the season’s first red-ball encounter.
His ability to bowl long unchanged spells and occupy one end of the wicket is going to prey on the patience of Turf 3 batters in the second half of the year, making him one of the nost critical components of the Turf 3 premiership puzzle.
Christo Otto – Keysborough. 257 runs at 51.4, 3x 50s. 16 wickets at 13.38.
One of just two players in the top 10 for wickets taken and runs made, sitting eighth and second respectively in said categories.
Otto is one of the hot favourites to win the McDonald Medal, and has led his Knights brilliantly in a reality check season back in Turf 3.
While still searching for an elusive hundred, Otto’s consistency has shone with the bat, making 57, 67, 58 and 43 in his four most-recent hits.
While with the ball, he has multiple wickets in all but one bowling performance, and bowled with a miserly economy rate.
Travis Lacey – Hampton Park. 240 runs at 34.3, 1x 50.
Hampton Park might be battling for a foothold this summer but Lacey is far from the man responsible.
He has been a shining light for the Lions with 77 more than any of his teammates, the only player to average more than 30 with the bat and the only Lion in the top 10 of either the wickets or runs count.
Without Lacey, you wonder how many wins Hampton Park would have this summer.
Harkanwal Singh – Silverton. 30 wickets at 9.27, 1x 5 wicket haul.
Singh arrived at Silverton this summer with plenty of promise having spent the last handful of seasons on the fringe of Turf 1 selection at Berwick, and has thrived with the responsibility and leadership at the Bakers this summer.
He is the leading seam bowler in the competition with a five-wicket haul coming against fellow pacesetter in Keysborough back in round five.
His wicket hauls read as follows – three, two, five, three, four, four, three, three, three, highlighting remarkable consistency of performance.
With Singh leading the attack, Silverton is a genuine premiership threat this summer.
THE REST
Chanaka Kahandawala – Keysborough. 338 runs at 84.5.
Arrived on the scene late but has quickly found his groove with the Knights, with two half-centuries and a blistering 133 against Berwick Springs in his last three matches.
It’s taken just five innings, but he already leads the competition for total runs scored, 81 ahead of his captain, Otto, in second place.
He has electrified the Keysborough top order and offered a new threat for sides to counter.
One of the more unique statistics of the summer thus far – he made 70 of the 72 runs in his second-wicket stand against the Titans with Shanaka Perumpuli on a one-man path of destruction.
With wickets falling around him against Lynbrook, he kept the Knights in the game with 72 off 60 that ensured the Lakers did not have the game entirely on their terms.
Having finished third in the Ian McDonald medal voting last summer, it’s no surprise that he has been so effective for the Knights.
Karan Singh – Fountain Gate. 197 runs at 32.8, 1x 50. 13 catches, four stumpings.
Adopted to captaincy duties at the Gators brilliantly leading the nomadic Gators to equal top of the ladder at the Christmas break.
His two best knocks – 91 and 45 – came in vital wins against finals hopefuls Berwick Springs and Lynbrook, while he has shown the temperament to play different roles with the willow, opening the batting in white-ball games and shifting down to the middle order in two-day cricket.
His excellence with the gloves, too, means he’ll be in line for a shift behind the stumps.
Jattinder Singh – Lynbrook. 181 runs at 30, 2x 50s. 21 wickets at 8.3, 1x 5 wicket haul.
Joining Otto as one of the premier allrounders in Turf 3, in the top 10 for both wickets taken and runs scored.
He started the year strongly with two half-centuries and 10 wickets in his first two games but a drop in form has coincided with the Lakers coming back to the middle of the table.
His bowling has outshone his batting this summer, with hauls of 6/12, 3/26 and 3/28.
A Lynbrook premiership assault needs Singh at his best.
Rob North – Silverton. 237 runs at 39.5, 1x 50.
Passing 50 only once is a misleading figure for North, whose consistency has him in the top five for runs scored after nine rounds.
Just three times from eight innings has he not passed 20 with scores of 42, 37 and 45 supporting his case.
Silverton has been one of the best-performed sides this summer with its skipper leading from the front.
If this summer is to be the Bakers’, North will be a primary reason.
Dylan Hayes – Silverton. 23 wickets at 14.6, 1x 5 wicket haul.
Only Wright and Singh have more wickets as seam bowlers than Hayes this summer in a testament to his relentless wicket-threatening bowling.
Against Berwick Springs he has 11 wickets from three innings including a haul of 5/35 in round nine.
Wickets against Lynbrook and Narre North, meanwhile, were vital in big wins for the Bakers.
With Singh now on the scene, Hayes and North can delegate bowling responsibilities to a wider variety of contributors, and maximise Hayes’ effectiveness.
Shalika Karunanayake – Berwick Springs. 216 runs at 27, 2x 50s.
Karunanayake’s selection comes with an air of trepidation, given he has not passed 50 since round four.
However, this side needs an experienced head to bolster the middle order, and Karunanayake fits the bill.
He’s out of form, but made the early running against top of the division’s top three sides, making 78 against Silverton and 55 against Fountain Gate.
The Titan needs runs in the final few weeks to solidify his place, but he is safe for now.
THE XI
Chanaka Kahandawala
Karan Singh (wk)
Christo Otto (c)
Travis Lacey
Rob North
Jattinder Singh
Shalika Karunanayake
Harkanwal Singh
Surya Pratap
James Wright
Dylan Hayes
