By David Nagel
The DDCA Turf 3 McDonald Medal has been dominated by bowlers in 2024/25 with Keysborough’s James Wright and Silverton’s Harkanwal Singh being joint winners on 27 votes.
The pair finished one-vote clear of two other stars with the ball, with Lynbrook’s Jatinder Singh and Fountain Gate’s Surya Pratap just vote back in equal-third place.
Harkanwal Singh has been an excellent addition to the Silverton program after stepping away from Turf 1 side Berwick, spearheading the attack and showing his class at Turf 3 level.
He made an instant impact for the Bakers with 3/36 in an important win over Berwick Springs that set his side on their way to premiership contention.
He was one of the competition’s wicket takers for much of the season and did not have a wicketless innings until round 11, with three hauls of four wickets and five hauls of three to go with his five wickets against Keysborough.
He finished with 41 wickets for the season, just one clear of Wright and Pratap.
Keysborough’s workhorse opening bowler Wright took the competition by storm in the middle of the summer.
Between rounds seven and 10, he took 25 wickets with two hauls of six wickets and two hauls of five.
He finished the season with a flurry, claiming 6/40 in Keysborough’s thumping round-14 victory over Doveton to join Singh at the top of the leaderboard.
Fountain Gate’s Karan Singh, Keysborough’s Chanaka Kahandawala and Silverton’s Rob North were also close up in the medal count with just seven votes splitting the top seven players of the year.
MCDONALD MEDAL
James Wright Keysborough 27
Harkanwal Singh Silverton 27
Jatinder Singh Lynbrook 26
Surya Pratap Fountain Gate 26
Karan Singh Fountain Gate 24
Chanaka Kahandawala Keysborough 23
Robert North Silverton 20
Christo Otto Keysborough 19
Travis Lacey Hampton Park 19
Yashwant Singh Lynbrook 17
