WGCA PREMIER DIVISION
REVIEW – ROUND 7 (Day Two)
By Russell Bennett
“I’D say he’s like a bottle of red – he’s getting better with age.”
Bulls president and wicket-keeping favourite son Luke Turner has had the best seat in the house over the years to view champion spinner Dwayne Doig – from right behind the stumps.
In his second season back at Cardinia after his three-year stint at Langwarrin in the Mornington Peninsula Cricket Association, Doig – now in his mid-thirties – is showing no signs of slowing down.
In fact, his great mate Turner says he’s just getting better with age and his staggering 12/82 on the weekend against the Yabbies is testament to that.
Doig recorded the brilliant, career-best figures of 8/47 off 19.4 overs of the visiting Pakenham Upper-Toomuc’s first innings on Saturday, before capping that off with 4/35 in the second – steering the Bulls to a potentially crucial outright win.
Resuming their first innings on 2/26 on Saturday in chase of the Bulls’ 6/269 declared, the depleted Yabbies were well and truly up against it. But Cardinia was in no mood to show any mercy – they couldn’t afford to with vital outright points on the line. After all, that could be all that separates a finals position from a spot outside the top four looking in come the end of the home-and-away season.
Yabbies Ryan De Reus, Daniel Strahan and Ryan Little know all too well just what Doig is capable of, with all three being former Bulls.
De Reus top-scored with 26 in the Yabbies’ first innings on Saturday but was one of only three batsmen to reach double figures as the side was dismissed for just 89 in the 40th over.
Then it was De Reus’ great mate Daniel Strahan (29) who top-scored in the second innings, which amounted to just 82 in the 43rd over. Doig, this time, picked up 4/35 with David Kingston (2/10), skipper Neil Barfuss (2/14) and Kim Bentick (2/9) the other multiple wicket-takers.
“I’d hate to say that you almost get used to it (how effective Doig is), but it’s just his competitiveness that sets him apart,” Turner said after the clash.
“When someone goes at him he just looks at it as a challenge and takes it on even more.
“He gets this grin on his face when he gets hit for a couple of boundaries.
“He doesn’t spin it that much. He can do it, but just doesn’t use it that often.
“It’s just that the ball drops so much. You think you’re getting a full-toss but then it just drops on you that quick.”
In an ominous sign for the competition, Turner said Doig seems to have even more weapons in his arsenal than he did before he left for the MPCA.
“He just knows exactly where he’s going to put it – he could put a 20-cent coin down there and he’d hit it,” he said.
“He just picks batsmen and knows what they’re going to do – he can see what they’re going to do early in their innings.”
Turner said that right from the start of day two, Barfuss and Doig were talking about trying to secure outright points.
“I was a bit worried at the start of the day on Saturday because everyone seemed like they thought it was just going to happen,” Turner said.
“Budgie (Ben Maroney) saw that as well. I hadn’t seen him fire up like that for a while, but he just gave the boys a bake. The older boys knew what was going to happen – we needed to actually do it to get a spot in the four.”
