Newtown’s Steve Skinner knows his side will be doing it tough against defending premiers RSL-Colts in round two of the RSL-Whitney Cup on Saturday, with a contingent of players unavailable for the day’s play.
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Regular Newtown captain Wayne Dunlop has been forced out due to ill-health and Skinner will be taking over the reigns.
“I’ve captained a few times before but it is pretty good to be named as Dunners (Dunlop’s) replacement,” Skinner said.
“It’s going to be a tough year for us, we have a lot of young blokes and I guess my role is just to try and lead them from the front.
“We want to try and get a few of these younger guys into first grade and establish them.”
In the season’s opening round against Cyms last Saturday, Newtown produced just 108 runs, falling by nine wickets. But according to Skinner some drastic changes were made to their batting line up.
“We dropped a few of our top order down a bit and mixed things up with some of the younger guys,” he said.
“Dunlop batted at four and I batted at six, I don’t think Dunners has ever not opened before.
“We didn’t want the younger fellas to be in their batting by themselves if we got out early.
“The pitch was slow and we just didn’t bat well.”
Colts, had a nice opening round campaign beating Rugby by 23 runs with Wes Giddings hitting 100 not out. They boast a number of players capable of making big scores, along with an impressive bowling outfit and are also quick around the field.
Against them Skinner knows his side will have to go out and do everything well.
“They bat well right down the line and not many teams have that,” he said.
“We will be relying on Jordy (Peacock) and Matt (Skinner) big time to put some power plays on against them.
“I think they will be down a bit, without Tim Cox (away with representative duties).
“Our bowling will be a little bit light on, we are having all sorts of troubles at the moment.
“Mitch Haley will be down in Canberra and Chris Leonard has a hamstring injury.
“I am a competitive guy and I want to beat them. Matt and Jordy are capable of batting a fair way through an innings and then I can take over.
“Myself and Jordy and Matt are also capable frontline bowlers so we will try and push them, but it will be a tough ask.”
