Mat Skinner has called on his star-studded Newtown side to start valuing their wickets more or a hugely promising RSL-Whitney Cup campaign could come to nothing.
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While the Tigers sit third with two wins from three games, last weekend’s heavy loss to RSL-Colts highlighted the side’s struggles to occupy the crease and bat out the allotted overs.
And while many in the Dubbo cricket community have the Tigers pencilled in to finish in the top three and push for the title, the side’s captain said there’s plenty of work to be done.
“You can look as you want on paper but if you’re not performing it doesn’t matter,” Skinner said.
“Against Colts we didn’t perform anywhere anywhere near as good as we should have.
“The team came in on a bit of a high and I think a few just expected to roll through but after the game we sat down and had a talk so hopefully now we can get back to what we know we can do.”
The major thing the side spoke about was the need to bat out the overs.
The Tigers have batted twice first this season and failed to see out their allotment both times.
It was a real problem against Colts as the side slumped from 1-40 to be all out for 125.
“We can’t have eight blokes go out there and try and smack boundaries from ball one,” the captain said.
“A few blokes did put their hands up and say they wanted to bat the innings out.
“Run-rate has never been our problem, we’re just not batting the overs and that’s not a good thing.”
With the likes of Dan Holland, Wayne Dunlop, Skinner brothers Mat and Steve and, in particular, Ben Patterson, there is real power in the batting lineup.
The skipper knows his side could pile on some monster scores if all goes right and he’s hoping that’s what happens in Saturday’s one-day clash with Rugby at No. 3 Oval.
A victory over a Rugby side which scored its first win of the season last round would help Newtown go even further to cementing a top three spot so early in the season.
Along with CYMS and RSL-Colts, Newtown have made a strong start to the new campaign and that has led many to say the top three won’t change between now and the finals.
“I can see why people would say that,” Skinner said.
“You look at those other sides and they’ve lost some key players while CYMS and us and have picked up some players after being in the bottom half of the competition for awhile.
“It has reversed a little.”
All Saturday’s RSL-Whitney Cup matches start at 1pm.