Wests to ‘play hard’

The Satellite

“WE are just going to come out and play some hard cricket,” Western Suburbs first grade captain, Aaron Nye warned opposition sides.

After a three week break for Christmas and New Years, Nye believes a rejuvenated Wests are poised to ignite when the Brisbane Cricket Competition resumes on Saturday.

After a dismal start to their campaign, Wests sit eighth on the first grade table and need to win the majority of their remaining matches to earn a top-four finals berth.

They’ll also need plenty of luck if they are to avoid missing the finals for the first time in almost a decade.

Still smarting from their 219-run loss to Sunshine Coast in their final game of 2009, Nye was optimistic for Wests’ finals chances.

“With the way the competition is set up with one dayers and twenty20 matches all contributing to the bigger picture, there’s still plenty of cricket to go – a hell of a lot,” he said.

“With a bit of luck and the right end of the coin, we’ll be thereabouts come finals time.

“We’ve still got some experienced guys in myself, Steven Paulsen, Cameron Glass and Matthew Lane in the team, who have been there around this time when it counts most.”

With a tough one-day match scheduled against reigning premiers, Gold Coast, for Saturday at Graceville Memorial Park Nye implored his team-mates to lift.

“Certainly we’ll be up for it,” he said.

“We need to knuckle down straight away and regain some consistency.

“The team needs to step up with the bat because I want to make (the) finals.

“Bowling we’ve been pretty solid and while some guys are showing good signs with the bat, we haven’t got runs on the board yet. So some of the guys need to take ownership of their own game.”

While Nye was critical of his side’s poor batting display, he’s the first to admit his own efforts with the wooden blade have been ailing.

Nye is averaging just 28 runs in the two-day form and has registered just two half centuries (one coming in a twenty20 match) this season.

However the two-time Peter Burge Medal winner (Brisbane First Grade best and fairest player) was quick to point out his imposing record after Christmas, which he hoped will lend itself to an improved performance with the bat.

“I’m looking forward to after Christmas,” the 31-year-old allrounder said.

“A lot of people seem to struggle after Christmas, but I’ve always enjoyed it...my batting average is close to 100 (runs) after Christmas.”