The depth and versatility of South Dubbo was on show on Saturday when they wrapped up a first round win against reigning RSL-Whitney Cup champions RSL-Colts.
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A wedding and a hospital visit meant Adam Wells and Mitch Bower shared captaining duties for the return leg, after the Hornets racked up an impressive 313-run haul in the first innings.
They backed it up by bowling RSL-Colts out for 174 runs to claim a 139-run victory over the team that defeated them in last season’s grand final.
Wells said Souths were pleased with the win, but said they won’t be getting ahead of themselves.
“It’s the first game. It’s a long way to go but we’re quietly confident with the talent we’ve got from one to 13,” he said.
“If everybody pitches in we’re pretty confident we’ll be competitive this season.
“There was a couple of people who had a few new roles. My daughter ended up in hospital on Saturday so I had to duck off halfway through and then Mitch Bower had to go to a wedding about 2:30pm so when I got back he handed me the captaincy.
“It was a great day. It was a good effort by everyone on the team.”
A number of bowlers stepped up to apply pressure, with Michael McCarthy taking 2/23 from eight overs in his return to the top grade and Will Lindsay recording four maiden overs to frustrate the Colts batsmen.
Workhorse Scott Tucker again shone with the ball claiming 5/36 and a maiden from 12 overs, while Wells also claimed a pair of wickets when he stepping in to tidy up the tail.
Matt Finlay also performed well with the ball, taking 1/34 from his eight overs, while Bower gave away only 13 runs in his five over spell.
Wells said the bowlers worked together to build pressure, with the wickets flowing as a result.
“Matt Finlay had to bowl a few overs. He’s getting pretty old now and he’s not as quick as he used to be but he’s able to bowl on one side of the wicket slowly,” Wells said.
“And Michael McCarthy was picked to fill a couple of gaps and was able to bowl a few off-spinners for us and just build pressure.
“That’s something we really talked about. When you’ve got a team that has got to score five or six runs an over, if you can have a couple of maidens you’re going to put on the pressure.”
Wes Giddings (49), Tom Atlee (33) and Darrel Williams (32) all stepped up with the bat to post a combined score of 114, but it was not enough to overcome the Hornets.
They’ll face Macquarie next weekend, while Souths will come up against Rugby.
