With the majority of the Saints and Turvey Park younger players involved in a Southern Sports Academy commitment, the A grade match between the two on Saturday has been rescheduled to later in the evening.
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As a consequence, the first of the Turvey Park ‘back-to-back’ matches will be against South Wagga Warriors, commencing at 4.30pm.
When last these teams met, the Warriors held off a strong-finishing Turvey Park to record an 8-5 win.
The Warriors have become a real ‘stumbling block’ for Turvey who haven’t beaten them since the major semi-final of season 2014-15.
The prospects of Turvey changing that situation lie mainly in just who will be available for the respective teams.
There’s no doubt the Warriors are a stronger combination with NSW U19 captain, Montana Kearnes, on board, but whether a state training session means she is unable to play remains to be seen.
Meanwhile Turvey has no less than six of their top players, and four of the next tier down, on Academy activities, so the selection of their team could be delayed until the commitments of these players are over.
As has been frequently stated this season, Turvey’s batting has been as good, if not better than their opponents, but it’s untidy fielding errors that are causing them to lose games.
Last Saturday was yet another case of seemingly ‘insignificant at the time’ mistakes proving critical in the long run.
Recruited outfielders Jayla Nix and Kira Hallam are doing well for the Warriors and have been snapping up catches hit by the power batters of Turvey Park, most notably those from the bat of Amanda Gooden.
Should Gooden, Kate Looney and Jade Olsen manage to bat into the gaps, or, indeed, over the heads of those Warrior fielders, a positive result could be the case for Turvey Park.
Of course, the Turvey outfielders will have to make the most of their dismissal opportunities from the expected strong batting of the Kearnes: Jane and Montana, Nicole Marlow and the ever-improving Hallam, if they are to have any chance of turning their fortunes.
Again, mystery surrounds what line-up Turvey will go with for their follow-up game against the Saints.
The two played a tense 6-all draw last Saturday with first one team, then the other holding sway before reaching the stalemate.
Belinda Dennis and daughter, Karina, who made a promising A grade debut last Saturday are definitely both unavailable, but, as yet, other player absences are not confirmed.
Turvey will have to target the strength of the Saints batters, namely such players as Tessa McGlynn, Kadison Hofert, Michelle Tabisz and Gemma McGlynn if they are to overcome the Saints.
Hofert, in particular, was in grand form last round, batting three from four.