AFTER scraping through to the second round by the narrowest of margins, a rejuvenated Gunnedah will make tracks to Singleton tomorrow to try to earn a spot in the McDonald’s Country Shield third round.
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The James Mack-skippered side though will have to overcome the loss of regular skipper Andy Mack and paceman Tom O’Neill.
They are big losses for them, James Mack said, O’Neill with the ball and Andy the bat.
Farran Lamb and Ben Irwin have been named as their replacements, although Mack wasn’t sure about Lamb.
He’s still battling a niggling injury from the footy season.
“It would be nice to have him there,” Mack said.
He probably won’t be right to bowl 10 overs but could handle a couple and might be an option to open the bowling.
He’s also handy with the bat.
They will need to pick up something there, with Andy Mack one of their key batsmen.
Irwin will take up some of the bowling slack for O’Neill.
He’s moved back to town after a few years away.
“He’s a pretty good swing bowler,” Mack said.
“He moves the ball both ways and is sharp enough.”
“He’ll give us something with the new rock.”
There are a fair few unknowns for Gunnedah.
Mack doesn’t really know anything about Singleton, or the grounds down there and how they might play.
What he does know is they will have to bat a lot better than they did two weeks ago against Narrabri in the first round.
Chasing just 79, they won on the last ball.
Many of the side backed up last week for Namoi in the revamped War Veterans Cup.
That was a lot better and, even though they didn’t make it through to the semi-finals, Mack said they would take a fair bit of confidence from the way they performed, especially facing the calibre of bowlers they did.
“We held our own – proved we can mix it with them,” Mack said.
“It was a big improvement on the week before.”
The first day they made 8-160, with Andy Mack scoring a half-century and a few other guys chipping in with 20-odd.
Sunday was a similar story. They made 8-210 on the back of 88 from Ryan Cooper.
“We just need someone to go on and get a good 50,” James Mack said.
And a few blokes to chip in with a few runs around them.
Behind Irwin, Mack does have a few options, with Troy Sands, Cameron Milne and Andrew George offering the pace support.
George is back in the mix after missing last season with injury.
“He bowls nagging line and length,” Mack said.
“He picked up a big wicket on Saturday. He got Simon Norvill.”
He’ll be looking to him and Milne to lock things down in the middle overs in rotation with the spin of Jared Smith and Sam Doubleday.
