THERE was a common theme in the Cootamundra Herald Cricketer of the Year voting from the round 11 matches, with three of the four players deemed best on ground doubling their season tally from three to six.
Big O spearhead Dean Bradley, Wallendbeen allrounder Shane O’Brien and Stockinbingal’s Jeremy Annetts were all rewarded for their efforts, however Annetts was the odd-man out as his side actually lost their match by three runs to the Central Hotel Tigers.
Despite the defeat Annetts’s 3-28 and match-high 33 was deemed the best, relegating Central pair Adam Twyford (28) and Luke Berkrey (19 and 3-23) to the minor votes.
Twyford’s collect has seen him move to seven votes to be within just three of the lead which is now shared by Scott Meale, Sam Annetts and Scott Roberts.
Roberts was Big O Burglars best in their eight-wicket loss to
stablemates Blues in a match in which Bradley again dominated with the ball.
Seven days after taking six wickets against Harden, Bradley ripped through the lower half of the Burglars’ batting card on his way to 5-19.
Roberts provided the greatest resistance with an innings of 39, while Chris Dawe’s explosive 33 for Blues saw him open his COY account with one vote.
O’Brien’s unbeaten 61 stood out like a beacon in the clash between Wallendbeen and Bushrangers at Barry Grace Oval.
Forced off mid innings due to heat stress, O’Brien returned later in the day and continued to punish the Bushrangers bowlers in a team total of 6-153 to which the Bushrangers replied with 107.
Justin Hampton played a leading role in keeping the reply in check with a three wicket haul, his two points also seeing him move to six and within striking distance of the COY leaders.
While Bradley, Annetts and O’Brien doubled their tallies, Harden’s Matt Schofield literally went three better, jumping from six to nine following a man-of-the-match effort in the dramatic tie against Ex-Services Young Guns.
Almost unplayable at times, Schofield claimed 7-31 off 10 overs, helping restrict Young Guns to just 82, of which Hamish Pennington scored 35 to earn the two votes.
Facing a seemingly impossible task Ray James, who chipped in with an unbeaten 17 with the bat, ensured Young Guns would earn their first on-field points for the season by taking 3-43.
After the first 11 rounds a total of 57 players have polled votes, with the top 24 separated by just five points.
The following are the leading vote pollers for each of the eight teams.