Park meet undermanned Bulls in quest for third straight win

Collingwood Park captain Matt Heberle says his side still have lots of improvement in them as they chase a third successive win in the Albany and Districts Cricket Association A-grade competition this Saturday.

Park will look to tighten their grip on fourth place when they face Mt Barker in the first game of 2020 on Saturday.

After defeating the winless Denmark in early December and then thrashing Royals in the final game of 2019, Park moved 13 points clear of the Bulls in fourth place.

A win in the round-10 clash at Turf North would go a long way to sealing a finals berth for Park with just five regular rounds remaining after this weekend.

All-rounder Tim Pyle will return to the Park line-up, for just his third game of the season, but they will be without Jesse Spaanderman.

Spaanderman is part of Park bowling attack that has been operating well this season.

Park have four players that have taken more than 10 wickets, showing their depth with the ball led by spearhead Ben Grey (13 wickets at an average of 17).

The Bulls will be without skipper Jeremy Wood, who is captaining the WA Country XI in Toowoomba, and Heberle said his team could put even further space between the two teams with their third straight win.

“It is a good time to get them I suppose without Jezza,” Heberle said.

“But they have obviously still got some good players with (Nathan) Crosby and (Alex) Fergie.

“If we can get it, three in a row, that leaves a big gap for us to fifth and hopefully we can keep closing the gap on third.”

A half century from Nathan De Graaf was the difference between the two sides when Park won a final-over thriller by one run back in round five.

De Graaf (254 runs at 36) and Nathan Dovey (313 at 52) both sit inside the top-10 run scorers this season.

Acting Bulls skipper Nathan Crosby said they were confident of having a side capable of challenging Park.

“As always, availability of players through January is always a challenge and Jez being out will leave a massive hole,” Crosby said.

“But I’m confident we’ll field a strong enough side to challenge.

“You can probably expect a fairly different-looking Mt Barker side, with a really good mix of experience and youth.”

In the other round-10 fixtures, Manypeaks and Railways will face off in a top-of-the-table contest with just one point separating the pair in the standings. The bottom-placed Magpies will face Royals at Turf South.