Tom Valeri hurls one in for Exies against Hanwood last weekend.
Cricket
EXIES captain Marc Tucker says all the pressure is on finals hunters Hanwood as their intriguing two-day clash at Exies No.2 wraps up tomorrow.
A win would all but seal fourth spot on the first-grade ladder for Hanwood, who will be out in the field as Exies resume at 0-4 chasing 188 with Glen Bock (four not out) and nightwatchman Dave Hennessy (0 not out) the men in the middle.
With fifth-placed Yenda surprisingly breathing down their neck after a stunning day one performance against Coro last weekend, Tucker is keen to turn up the heat on Hanwood.
"We've got to make it as hard as we can for them to make the finals," he said.
"It's all on them the pressure is all on them.
"If they lose then they'll probably be lucky to make the finals in the end."
Tucker is expecting a fired-up Hanwood fresh off last week's performance, which was headlined by a 50 from opener Kris Hicken and an authoritative 45 from Jason Bertacco.
Tomorrow, star paceman Dean Wynne will be the key man and he's probably due for a bag of wickets, Tucker admitted.
"He's been bowling alright but hasn't been getting much reward for it," said his Creet Cup teammate.
"But he's very handy so we've got to be wary of him,
"He's always able to pull something out of the bag so we have to be real careful.
"We've just got to wait for the one or two bad balls an over from him, and then if we can get it over the inner circle the outfield at Exies will probably take it to the boundary."
Warren Bock will take the gloves for Exies after the opening quick suffered an injury last week that restricted him to just one over and five balls of work.
"It wasn't a letdown when he broke down but he's one of our spearheads now that Chris Mansell's gone," Tucker said.
"We fell apart for 10 overs and let Hanwood into it.
"But we came back, I think they were 4-150 at tea and we ended up getting their last six wickets for not many runs, so I was happy with that."
Tucker is also happy with the batting power Exies has up the sleeve beyond incumbent pair Glen Bock and Hennessy.
"We've got a few. Hopefully those two can get us off to a good start, but in Phil Burge and Rick Merz we've got another set of openers," he said.
"Even Lyle Campbell's looking real good in the Twenty20s and in the nets so he can be pretty dangerous too."
