By DAVID NAGEL
CARDINIA coach Dwayne Doig and captain Neil Barfuss are poised to become the top two wicket takers since a WGCA restructure saw an eight-team Premier Division competition begin in 2009/10.
The Bulls’ duo currently sits second and third on the list, Barfuss, with 134 wickets, one ahead of Doig (133) who has returned to Gunton Oval this season after three with Langwarrin in the Mornington Peninsula Cricket Association (MPCA).
Former Tooradin all-rounder Cal O’Hare leads the way with 145 scalps, but his move from the Seagulls to Buckley Ridges in the Dandenong District Cricket Association (DDCA) has brought his accumulation to a halt.
Interestingly the old theory that one wicket is the equivalent of 20 runs stacks up very well in the WGCA, with 25 players on the list of players to have made 1000 runs and 24 to have taken 50 wickets.
Nine players are on both lists, with O’Hare and Barfuss joined by Aaron Avery (Tooradin), Chris O’Hara (Kooweerup), Russell Lehman (Pakenham), Matt Davey (Kooweerup), Chris Smith (PUT/Pakenham), Shane Dole (Kooweerup) and Dom Paynter (Pakenham).
Doig (47 wickets in 2009/10), Barfuss (40 wickets in 2014/15) and Lehman (42 wickets in 2014/15) are the only three bowlers to have taken 40 or more wickets in a season.
Doig’s number three ranking is quite phenomenal really, with 120 wickets (47, 36 and 37) coming in his three seasons with the Bulls from 2009/10 through to 2011/12, and he already leads the way this season with 13 wickets -six coming against a mesmerised Kooweerup outfit on the weekend.
And this list doesn’t take into consideration the huge amount of wickets he claimed prior to the restructure.
WGCA BOWLING – THE PREMIER ERA!
Cal O’Hare (Tooradin) – 145 total wickets
Neil Barfuss (Cardinia) – 134
Dwayne Doig (Cardinia) – 133
Aaron Avery (Tooradin) – 117
Dean Henwood (Cardinia) – 111
John Bright (Kooweerup) – 105
Chris O’Hara (Kooweerup) – 103
Russell Lehman (Pakenham) – 102
Matt Davey (Kooweerup) – 101
Ash Adams (Tooradin) – 96
Chris Smith (Pakenham Upper-Toomuc/Pakenham) – 92
Jess Mathers (Merinda Park/Kooweerup) – 90
Shane Dole (Kooweerup) – 89
Steve Hamill (Tooradin) – 89
Scott Pitcher (Upper Beaconsfield) – 84
Jason Dodd (Beaconsfield) – 73
Dom Paynter (Pakenham) – 70
John Simpson (Upper Beaconsfield) – 66
Craig Boswell (Cardinia/Merinda Park) – 63
Lucas Plozza (Pakenham Upper-Toomuc/Cardinia) – 59
Ron Bright Jr (Kooweerup) – 57
Jamie Smith (Merinda Park) – 56
Paul Bright (Kooweerup) – 55
Dylan Cuthbertson (Merinda Park) – 50
