By David Nagel
It’s hardly an expert opinion – more subjective – but if our calculations are correct then Pakenham captain Dale Tormey has a handy buffer in the running for this season’s Terry Stephenson Medal.
With just four rounds remaining in the CCCA Premier Division season, Tormey appears the front-runner for the association’s highest individual award after a return to his brilliant best.
Tormey ranks second on the CCCA batting charts, with 343 runs, and sits fifth on the bowling list with 18 wickets to his name.
The lusty left-hander may have polled in as many as seven of the nine games the Lions have played in this season.
But it is subjective, with even Saturday’s win over Officer providing a real dilemma for the umpires to decide upon.
Just which way will they go?
We’ve given Tormey three votes for his blistering 60 not out, off just 37 balls, as the Lions chased down 194 with 75 rocks left in the tank.
But, from his own team, Chris Smith (56 off 44), Jack Anning (57 not out) and Tommy Tyrrell (4/31) could all be three-vote contenders, while Officer’s Nick McLennan (71 off 71) and Kane Hawkins (63 off 42) were others to stand out from the pack.
Our voting system has Tormey currently sitting on 17 votes, four clear of Kooweerup all-rounder Luke McMaster, with Tooradin’s on-fire talisman Josh Lownds a vote further back on 12.
We have McMaster polling in six games, with Lownds polling in just four…all best-on-ground three-vote performances.
Lownds sits third on the run-scorers list with 329 runs, while his 20 wickets see him joint competition leader alongside teammate Brad Butler and Pakenham’s Jason Williams.
We have Butler in fourth position on 10 votes, two clear of Williams, Cardinia’s Jake Prosser, Officer’s Jaswinder Gill and Tooradin’s Dylan Sutton, all on eight votes.
Tormey, Lownds and Butler are the only three players in the competition to have a top-10 ranking in both facets of the game.
McMaster has had a magnificent season for Kooweerup with the bat, making 446 runs at an average of 55.75…103 runs more than his nearest pursuer in Tormey.
Rounding out our top-10 are Travis Wheller, Sasindu Perera, Rob Elston, Jack Anning, Gamini Kumara and Daniel McCalman, all on six votes.
But this all subjective remember, we could be a long, long, long way out!
Here are our top-10 contenders after round 10:
17: D Tormey (Pakenham), 13: L McMaster (Kooweerup), 12: J Lownds (Tooradin) 10: B Butler (Tooradin), 8: J Williams (Pakenham), J Prosser (Cardinia), J Gill (Officer), D Sutton (Tooradin), 6: T Wheller (Cardinia), S Perera (Merinda Park), R Elston (Pakenham), J Anning (Pakenham), G Kumara (Kooweerup) and D McCalman (Merinda Park).
