WAGGA City captain-coach Josh Thompson is confident Max Harper is primed for a big summer after rediscovering his bowling mojo in Saturday's five wicket win over Kooringal Colts at Harris Park.
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The Cats sent the Colts in on a green deck and with Dave Bolton (30) and middle order players Andrew Dutton (28), Keenan Hanigan (22), Daniel Perri (55) and Marc Vincent (32 not) all making solid contributions for Kooringal to guide them to 6-188.
After going wicketless in his previous two matches this season, Harper finished with 3-30 and backed it up with an unbeaten 47 with the bat as the Cats reached the target in the 44th over with five wickets in hand.
Wagga City opener Ben Turner top scored with 66, his entertaining 74-ball knock featuring nine fours and two sixes.
Thompson feels it was the breakthrough performance Harper was looking for to get back to his best.
"It's fantastic to see him firing up. He probably knows he hasn't bowled that well for 12 to 18 months. But for him to start off the way he did, I think it was the quickest spell of bowling I've seen him bowl for a long time," he said.
"He was unlucky not to get a couple more wickets, and had he been bowling at some less experienced players other than Dave Bolton he may have. It was a fantastic day for him to then back it up with 47 not out.
"He's been pretty busy with university and changing jobs he's at that period of life where he probably wasn't concentrating on cricket as much as he would have liked.
"He's just starting to hit his straps now and he's going to have a big year."
Thompson said Turner's positivity from the outset allowed the Cats to keep their foot on the throat.
"That's going to be his role at the top of the order and he did it perfectly. He's a very positive player and is always going to be exciting to watch," Thompson said.
"He probably threw a big score away yesterday, he knows he probably did the wrong thing (holing out in the deep) but it's great for his confidence."
Hanigan was the most effective of the Colts bowlers with 3-22 off ten overs.
Colts coach Craig Footman said the team will be without Nathanael Mooney for a long stretch after he broke his foot going for a run on Thursday.
"We've been hammered with injury and Nathanael broke his foot on Thursday, he's probably going to be out for six to eight weeks," Footman said.
"We dug deep with the bat but we just weren't disciplined with our bowling. We didn't bowl to our plans and execute all that well, but take nothing away from the Cats they batted really well."
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