Round 1 - Crusaders v Sticky Wickets at The Castle (completed)

Crusaders v Stickies

Crusaders: Ames, Retzel, Heads, Miokovic, Perry, Warrington, Clough, Immanuel, Ridd, Ritchie, Wilson.
Stickies: Speirs, Thornton, Petrucci, Parker, Alessi, Chowdhuri, Dempsey, Hughes, King, Izett, Hutchinson.

The opening game of season 12 sees the Sticky Wickets visit The Castle in what should be a low scoring tussle where both teams will be looking to show fans that changes made over the off-season will see a rise in the table. John Heads, Theo Miokovic, Daniel Petrucci, Jack Dempsey, James Hughes, Gerard King and Alan Izett will all be making their first appearance for their new clubs (with some returnees) and will be eager to impress. The Crusaders go in as favourites on what should be a crumbling pitch from day 1. This is likely to favour the Crusaders spin duo of Joshua Ritchie and Scott Wilson, but if any of King, Hughes and Speirs fire - the Stickies have every chance.

Ritwick Chowdhuri will be one to watch - the Stickies coaching staff have all identified him as the one batsman who has trained the house down over the off-season, and expect him to become a mainstay of the Stickies' batting lineup. Ed Ames will be looking to bounce back from an awful Season 11 and justify his selection at the top of the order. Regan Hutchinson will also be looking to cement his spot, having been surprisingly selected over Simon Laing.

The Herald predicts a 140 run win for the Saders, with centuries to both Ames and Heads despite a well earned 5 wicket hall from Daniel Speirs.

Herald Tips
Mousey - Crusaders
Eds - Crusaders
Baxter - Crusaders
Morgieb - Crusaders
Cribbage - Crusaders
Callum - Crusaders
Gazza - Crusaders
Eggman - Crusaders
Jager - Crusaders
Skippos - Crusaders
Fung - Sticky Wickets