By ADEM SARICAOGLU
A YOUNG Sydenham Hillside side could well sneak its way into the NWMCA’s George Luscombe Shield finals series over the coming month.
The Storm is currently just two points outside the top four and will battle it out with Gladstone Park for fourth spot in the final two games of the home-and-away season.
Despite its negative win-loss record, club chairman of selectors Greg Wilson has been impressed with how the Storm has managed to progress through its 4-6 summer to date.
“We’re coming along quite well,” Wilson said.
“We’ve got a lot of young kids in the side this year and we played a few of the top sides before Christmas.
“But now we’re in a position where we’re chasing down a finals spot.”
Sydenham Hillside’s star import from last summer, Sanahasa Fernando, has taken over as the Storm’s captain-coach this season after John Thrush moved on as coach at the end of the 2012/13 campaign.
Though Fernando’s numbers with the bat this summer have not quite matched those of 12 months ago, Wilson said his impact as coach on the young Storm group has been immense.
“He’s been fantastic as a coach,” Wilson said.
“The progression of our young kids has been fantastic.
“We’ve got two young boys (Dylan Knight and Reece Tompkins) from the under-16s playing in the firsts, and we’ve got a number of young guys playing in the firsts and seconds who are all doing really well, too.”
The New Year began perfectly for the Storm with successive one-day wins over Buckley Park and the Clarkefield Brumbies – giving its finals aspirations a timely boost.
Courtesy of a bye, Sydenham Hillside has been forced to sit out the past two weeks and has not played red-ball cricket since mid-December.
With the Storm set to resume its summer this weekend in a two-day away clash with the lowly Brumbies, Wilson is confident the two-week break will not halt the team’s momentum.
“I think it was good because we’ve got a lot of young guys who have played representative cricket over the last few weeks, so it’s good to give them a bit of a break,” Wilson said.
“Especially with the hot weather we’ve had, it was just a good opportunity to freshen the guys up.”
