Josh Meldrum’s unbeaten 116 for Taree West in the Mid North Coast Premier League clash against Nulla at Kempsey may have done more than just won the game for his side.
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It may have saved their season.
Meldrum, the Taree West captain, held the side’s innings together. Taree West posted a competitive 172 and then restricted Nulla to 9/165. This win keeps Taree West in the hunt for a top four berth after the side made a disastrous start to the season. A loss would have almost certainly been the end of their semi-final aspirations.
Meldrum is the Manning River Times-Iguana Sportstar of the Week, earning a $50 open order from Iguana. He was nominated by Taree West Cricket Club.
His punishing innings included 10 boundaries and six sixes. He was only at the crease for 73 minutes.
Meldrum admits his form had been a bit indifferent going into the game.
“I had a 50 against United and I was pretty happy with the way I batted when I made 35 against Wauchope,’’ he said.
“But I was hitting the ball pretty well at training during the week and I thought a good score wasn’t far away.’’
However, with Taree West struggling at 8/87 at one point against Nulla his hopes of posting a ton looked forlorn. Meldrum paid tribute to the efforts of tail end batsman Nayden Moriarty and Shane Manny, who held up an end while he plundered the bowling. Meldrum and Moriarity put on 53 of which Moriarty scored three. He added another invaluable 22 with Manny, where Manny scored two. He said without their efforts Taree West would have been lucky to post 100.
“You just got to have faith in them,’’ Meldrum replied when asked the art of batting with lower order batsmen.
This was his first century since he breakout year in 2015/16 in the Manning first grade competition where Meldrum was the highest run getter. Meldrum captained Taree West in the inaugural season of the premier league last summer and took on the duties again a fortnight ago.
He said Taree West is fielding a more stable lineup now, in contrast to the start of the season when they were struggling to fill the gaps.
“We were chasing five or six players just to make up the numbers,’’ he said.
“Now we’ve got a more settled team – it makes a huge difference.’’
Meldrum, 30, is a great supporter of the premier league.
“We’re playing different teams each week and we only play the sides twice a year,’’ he said.
This in contrast to the last season of Manning first grade, when only four sides were involved.
“You’d get a bit sick of playing the same teams all the time,’’ he said.
