A Warrnambool and District division one star in a rich vein of form sent down almost 200 deliveries on Saturday, February 17 as he gears up for his first finals campaign at his new club.
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Merrivale playing coach Matt Petherick once again bowled his side to victory with 6-32 from 33 overs, including an almost unheard of 17 maidens against finals hopeful Dennington in a crucial win for the third-placed Tigers.
Fellow seamer Marcus Bunney was also productive in the perfect supporting role, snaring 4-32 from his 22 overs.
Petherick, a former Russells Creek premiership captain, also bowled 17 overs throughout the week for Warrnambool at Melbourne Country Week level.
He has now taken 19 wickets in four matches since Christmas with a haul of 7-56 in the previous round against West Warrnambool to be amongst the most in-form players in the competition alongside the likes of Port Fairy captain-coach Alastair Templeton, Nestles captain Jacob Hetherington and Brierly-Christ Church's Chamika Fernando.
"Red-ball cricket is his game, in white ball he's only got nine overs and he can bowl as much as he wants with the red-ball," Tigers captain Joe Kenna said.
"Opposition teams know you've got to score off him eventually. He just does whatever is best for the team, he knows he's our best bowler.
"He's done it all before. He knows what he's doing. He's done it before as captain at Creek, done it as coach and just keeps bowling.
"With Daniel Hawkins out last week it was amazing to have a big strike-bowling bloke like 'Pepsi' so it was unbelievable, he knew he had a big workload especially after country week.
"I thought Daniel Pearson kept really well to him on the weekend and he just locks in his line and forces the opposition to make mistakes and that's where he gets his wickets."
Kenna said while his finals-bound group had the champion quick at his disposal, he understood each team had players capable of winning matches.
"Every team has unreal bowlers. Allansford have three of the best spinners in the league," he said.
"Port Fairy have a really good bowling line up. Every team has a genuine strike bowler I reckon and can do anything on their day.
"But we're lucky to have 'Pepsi' in form at the right time of the year."
The Tigers spinner, who also played for Warrnambool at country week level and made a strong impact late in the carnival, said his group wasn't focusing on finals but rather worrying about getting the points against Mortlake this weekend.
"We're taking it each week, at the end of the day we'll just try and do what we can," he said.
"We're ramping up training at the moment and we'll see how it all pans out for us."
Nick Creely
Sports reporter with The Standard
Sports reporter with The Standard
