SECOND-LAST Dennington has called on two favourite sons to shore up its dwindling batting stocks.
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The Zeb McCarthy-skippered side has regained young all-rounder Shannon Beks and former leader Dustin Drew in recent weeks as it seeks to resurrect a tough campaign.
McCarthy said the pair “bolstered” his outfit’s class and had raised the level of his side.
“At this stage, Drewy will play the next game with work commitments permitting and it’s the same with Shannon,” the first-year skipper revealed.
“We’ve also had Xavier Beks come back from his back injury which has helped us a lot.
“I think it’s helped us to have that bit more consistency in the squad with these guys playing.”
McCarthy, a fresh produce manager at the Koroit IGA supermarket, implored his men to improve their batting and to place “value” on their wicket.
“I think it’s where our improvement has to come from,” he said.
“We need that value on our wicket. When we lose one, or maybe two, we’ve ended up losing three or four.
“Getting people like Shannon and Dustin in certainly bolsters our batting and we probably bat right down to number 11 now.”
The 32-year-old predicted Dennington’s next opponent – newly-crowned Twenty20 premier Russells Creek – to pose a threat with the ball.
“I definitely know Creek has a good bowling side, and that’ll be a test for us, trying to bat out the overs,” McCarthy said.
“We need to bat for a period of time and it’s going to be a good test for us. Two-day cricket can be even harder against those stronger sides, though.
“We have nothing to lose and there is no pressure on us, so we’ll go out, try to make runs so we can have another go.”
“It would be great to put in another really good performance.”
Dennington is currently 11th on the Warrnambool and District Cricket Association with just one victory.
It faces East Warrnambool, Merrivale and Brierly-Christ Church on its run home.