South Wilts teenage hot shot Josh Croom has an impressive 30 Aussie cricket scalps dangling from his belt after helping his adopted club Glenelg into this weekend’s South Australia West End First Grade semi-finals.
He took 3-41 off 12 overs before spending a nervy three hours watching Glenelg recover from a desperate 43-5 to overhaul Woodville’s 200 all out to win by three wickets.
It booked his side a semi-final visit to second-in-the-log Kensington for a two-day match, the winners of which will play either Adelaide University or West Torrens in the SACA Grand Final at the Adelaide Oval.
The 18-year old from Stratford-Sub-Castle shared the new ball with Aussie Test cap Chad Sayers and took a wicket with only his second delivery – Woodville opener Louis Green feathering an away-swinger behind to Alex Carey, Australia’s ODI keeper.
Croom, who has enjoyed a tremendously successful winter at Darren Lehmann’s Academy, claimed two more scalps to take his Australian tally to 30 before Woodville wriggled out of trouble at 118-6 to post a competitive 200 all out.
Sayers, who played for Australia against South Africa in March 2018 in the aftermath of the Sandpaper-gate ball tampering row at Newlands, and Under-19 World Cup all-rounder Liam Scott shared six of the other wickets.
“Overall, we were pretty happy with bowling Woodville out for 200. We felt having them 118-6 we gave them a few too many runs, but we knew that with how strong our batting depth is, we could chase it down, Croom said.
But the Seahorses found themselves in choppy waters in reply and were rocking at 43-5, all five wickets falling to Ben Turley, including former South Wilts overseas batsman Jake Winter, bowled for two, and later the key scalp of Carey.
At 43-5, the Seahorses really were swimming against the tide, but as the effects of the new ball wore off Glenelg launched amazing recovery and went on to win the game.
Pressure
Ben Bullimore (98 not out) and Isaac Higgins (71) added 152 for the sixth wicket to take Glenelg to 194 when two more wickets fell in quick succession to make it 194-7.
“The pitch was certainly doing a fair bit, especially early on from Turley, who ended with all seven of our wickets,” Croom added.
“We always knew with their bowling attack that if we got through the initial ten overs, where there would be the most swing, the surface would become easier to bat on.
“There was certainly a lot more pressure put on the incoming batters when at one point they had us 15-3 and it was a very quiet dugout when we were 43-5.
“But we had a lot of belief in Isaac Higgins and Ben Bullimore who were at the crease at the time to get us over the line. They have scored plenty of runs, especially in high-pressured situations this season.”
As for Croom, he maintained he kept a cool head throughout the innings, though he did rush to his car boot and strap on his pads when the seventh Glenelg wicket fell.
“I didn’t rush off to the boy’s room or anything like that. I had a superstition to stay in the same seat throughout the whole 50.5 overs, but then leapt out of it when we scored the winning runs,” he chuckled.
“Kensington in the semi-finals, with all their Redbacks guys back from Sheffield Shield duty will be a very tough game. It’s an unexpected dream for me to be playing in a game like this.”
Elsewhere in the final round of West End Grade matches in Adelaide, Australia left-hander Travis Head, who played ECB Southern Premier League cricket for Ventnor in 2013, plundered 178 to set up a huge victory for Tea Tree Gully over Port Adelaide.
John Dalton, who played for Hursley Park in 2014, made 99 for Kensington, so will be in good nick ahead of the Grade semi-final tie against Glenelg at the Parkinson Oval at the weekend.
Below: Josh Croom celebrates Glenelg's victory with Alex Carey (left), Chad Sayers and Liam Scott.
He took 3-41 off 12 overs before spending a nervy three hours watching Glenelg recover from a desperate 43-5 to overhaul Woodville’s 200 all out to win by three wickets.
It booked his side a semi-final visit to second-in-the-log Kensington for a two-day match, the winners of which will play either Adelaide University or West Torrens in the SACA Grand Final at the Adelaide Oval.
The 18-year old from Stratford-Sub-Castle shared the new ball with Aussie Test cap Chad Sayers and took a wicket with only his second delivery – Woodville opener Louis Green feathering an away-swinger behind to Alex Carey, Australia’s ODI keeper.
Croom, who has enjoyed a tremendously successful winter at Darren Lehmann’s Academy, claimed two more scalps to take his Australian tally to 30 before Woodville wriggled out of trouble at 118-6 to post a competitive 200 all out.
Sayers, who played for Australia against South Africa in March 2018 in the aftermath of the Sandpaper-gate ball tampering row at Newlands, and Under-19 World Cup all-rounder Liam Scott shared six of the other wickets.
“Overall, we were pretty happy with bowling Woodville out for 200. We felt having them 118-6 we gave them a few too many runs, but we knew that with how strong our batting depth is, we could chase it down, Croom said.
But the Seahorses found themselves in choppy waters in reply and were rocking at 43-5, all five wickets falling to Ben Turley, including former South Wilts overseas batsman Jake Winter, bowled for two, and later the key scalp of Carey.
At 43-5, the Seahorses really were swimming against the tide, but as the effects of the new ball wore off Glenelg launched amazing recovery and went on to win the game.
Pressure
Ben Bullimore (98 not out) and Isaac Higgins (71) added 152 for the sixth wicket to take Glenelg to 194 when two more wickets fell in quick succession to make it 194-7.
“The pitch was certainly doing a fair bit, especially early on from Turley, who ended with all seven of our wickets,” Croom added.
“We always knew with their bowling attack that if we got through the initial ten overs, where there would be the most swing, the surface would become easier to bat on.
“There was certainly a lot more pressure put on the incoming batters when at one point they had us 15-3 and it was a very quiet dugout when we were 43-5.
“But we had a lot of belief in Isaac Higgins and Ben Bullimore who were at the crease at the time to get us over the line. They have scored plenty of runs, especially in high-pressured situations this season.”
As for Croom, he maintained he kept a cool head throughout the innings, though he did rush to his car boot and strap on his pads when the seventh Glenelg wicket fell.
“I didn’t rush off to the boy’s room or anything like that. I had a superstition to stay in the same seat throughout the whole 50.5 overs, but then leapt out of it when we scored the winning runs,” he chuckled.
“Kensington in the semi-finals, with all their Redbacks guys back from Sheffield Shield duty will be a very tough game. It’s an unexpected dream for me to be playing in a game like this.”
Elsewhere in the final round of West End Grade matches in Adelaide, Australia left-hander Travis Head, who played ECB Southern Premier League cricket for Ventnor in 2013, plundered 178 to set up a huge victory for Tea Tree Gully over Port Adelaide.
John Dalton, who played for Hursley Park in 2014, made 99 for Kensington, so will be in good nick ahead of the Grade semi-final tie against Glenelg at the Parkinson Oval at the weekend.
Below: Josh Croom celebrates Glenelg's victory with Alex Carey (left), Chad Sayers and Liam Scott.
