TALENTED Allansford sportsman Connor Arnott had tough choices to make even before today's cut-throat cricket semi-final.
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The opening bowler decided to stick with his Allansford teammates to take on Russells Creek at Reid Oval rather than play for the TAC Cup side Ballarat Rebels taking on Geelong Falcons in a practice match.
The Gators will be hoping to bounce back against Russells Creek at Reid Oval after going down to the same side in the last round of the Warrnambool and District Cricket Association home-and-away season last weekend.
Arnott, 17, hosed down speculation that it was a difficult decision with talented cricketers in the past put under enormous pressure to play TAC Cup games with the possible lure of being drafted into the AFL.
"I play a bit of footy as well but it's pretty easy to handle. There's been no pressure from the Rebels, they've been real good - nothing could be further from the truth," the Terang Mortlake footballer said.
"I wanted to play cricket with my mates and they've (the Rebels) been really supportive," he said.
Ballarat Rebels regional manager Phil Partington said he had sat down with Arnott and was pleased the youngster had decided to finish off the cricket season.
"Connor's been training really well. We're very happy with his progress. He's obviously a very good cricketer and it's fantastic he's got the opportunity to play in the finals," he said.
"I said to him you've played cricket all year, play with mates. It's a great chance to play in a final with his friends. That decision will not interfere with his selection in round one for us," he said.
"We've got another boy, Mick O'Brien from Wendouree who's missed a practice match as well. We want the kids to make up their own minds.
"It's not up to us to tell them what to do. We want them to develop their decision-making as well," he said.
Arnott started playing with Allansford in the under 13s and despite opening the bowling in division one, hardly rolled over his arm in the under 17s this season.
He made 275 runs in the under 17s with a top score of 85 and an average of 25.
Arnott said the introduction of new rules restricting the amount of overs a young speedster could send down had limited him bowling in under 17s.
"I would rather bowl my overs at the higher level. I'm not in favour of the overs restrictions but I can see the benefit in the longer term," he said.
Arnott also made special mention of allrounders Gary Rowbottom and Mick Rantall for helping him out.
"I've known Rowy for a long time and he's been good. Mick came up to me at a Twenty20 game. He offered to show me a few things and that was really good of him," he said.
In division one Arnott has taken 32 wickets with a best of 5-18 at 14.5 runs each. He's also made 95 runs with a top score of 37 at 15.8.
Allansford captain Kyle Timms said he was pleased Arnott decided to play out the cricket season and the club has been happy to work in with the bowler's football training commitments.
"He's equally passionate about his footy and cricket so it did put him in a tough spot," he said.
"Connor is an important player for us. He opens the bowling and he's a handy lower-order bat," he said.
Allansford will be keen to reverse last weekend's result against Russells Creek in the semi-final.
Creek scored an upset win, making 8-181 and restricting the Gators to 9-152. That leaves the sides at one win each for the season after Allansford made 1-174 in round eight and knocked over Creek for 138.
In the other semi-final at Davidson Oval Nestles takes on West Warrnambool.
* Ballarat Rebels play a practice match against the Geelong Falcons at Ballarat tomorrow. The under 16 game starts at 10am with under 18 games at noon and 2pm.
The two sides clash in the second round of the TAC Cup competition at Warrnambool's Reid Oval on Sunday, April 4.
