St Patrick’s Matt Crawshaw says brain fades were behind his poor early season form.
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Crawshaw bounced back though with 100 against top-of-the-table Wodonga at Xavier Oval, making it a double celebration as he also turned 21.
And he was candid when quizzed on his form prior to his first century of the season.
“I’d probably say fairly average, I felt pretty good at training in the nets,” he said.
“My brain’s let me down a little bit I’d say, just making some pretty poor decisions out in the middle which is costing my wicket, and that’s quite frustrating for myself and probably the team.”
Crawshaw shot to prominence when he top-scored for the Patties in their 2012-13 grand final loss to Lavington.
He’s been a mainstay of the club’s top order since, but moved to the middle order in round seven.
“I started at the top, but didn’t make any runs, I got a score in the first T20, very quiet after that,” he said.
“So I went down to five, changed it up a little bit, we started playing good cricket as a team, so I just stayed.”
But captain Kane Arendarcikas pushed him back to the top against Wodonga, with the left-hander and Nick Flood combining for the club’s first century opening stand since round seven last season.
Flood scored 52 and Crawshaw admits the hard-hitting opener is underrated by those outside the club.
“Yeah, absolutely, he’s had quite a consistent year, with four scores over 40,” he said.
“He plays to his strengths extremely well, he’ll just wait for them to bowl to him, and then when they’re in the spot, he hits it a mile.”
Flood plays the pull shot particularly well, striking four 6s.
The Patties made 260, with the club’s spin attack a strong chance to bowl half the 80 overs on day two.
Meanwhile, Belvoir will look to defend a similar total at Tallangatta.
“We tried to win the toss and bat them out of the game, but 253 out there, so obviously only half the job done and we haven’t batted them out of the game,” batsman Drew Cameron said.
Cameron posted his highest score of the season, 123, to move into second spot on the run-scorer’s list with 453.
The Eagles hopes of toppling the Bushies could largely depend on their ability to dismiss the top run-maker in Matt Armstrong, who has seven more runs than Cameron.
And 12 of the 14 wickets in the East Albury-Lavington match fell behind the wicket.
Eight of the Crows’ dismissals fell in that manner, and then Lavington’s four wickets fell to Cameron White.
The Alexandra Park pitch had more life than normal, probably due to the rain on Friday, and interestingly three of the association’s best quicks were able to swing the ball, which is a rarity.